Willem curses as he gets stuck and then pulls himself free, ::"Frakin' spell chuckers!::" Keeping a firm hold on his rifle, he quickly jabs some of the vines with his rifle butt out of anger.
As Gemma finally makes it free of the vines and grasses, she readies her crossbow again and yells out to her fellow constables. "No! Don't go into the maze!"
She doesn't know exactly why, but she knows that tactically, fighting on Ghillie Dhu's ground isn't going to go well somehow.
Thinking back on how he reacted to fire on his hedge, Gemma looks around, finally spying Anneca. "Anneca! Light it up! Set the outside edge of the hedge on fire! Tobias, if you can hear me, move back out! He'll come to us!"
Thoughts of the Green Man's hedge maze burning to the ground in front of his eyes brings a satisfying smile to Gemma's face.
Anneca moves as quickly as she dares around the edges of the writhing grasses, working her way back west and north to the hedges surrounding the central keep. A single arrow passes by harmlessly well away from her, yet it reminds Anneca that the rebels along the inner walls are starting to recover from the dreadful shock of whatever sundered the reality of Axis for a brief time. Her aerial assistant is now clearly over Ghillie Dhu, though she herself can find no easy way to gain the hedge entrance without risking a jaunt back into the fey entanglement magic.
There is no sign of the other ally of Ghillie Dhu, the one called Noxx. Patiently it waits in the hedges, ready to cause malevolent mischief against the intruders of the hedge maze…
As five of the constables struggle under the effects of Ghillie Dhu’s fey entanglements, only Fethryth and Jesselle seem close to pulling free and getting into the hedge maze to help their injured comrade. Jesselle, however, finds that just near the edge of the spell the grasses and roots seem to redouble their efforts and surge around her legs with bitter resistance, restraining her movements. Gemma manages to makes it free with a vicious uprooting of several vine-like roots, only to find her progress slow-going just a few feet farther forward towards Willem. Emerson continues to move slowly but steadily forward, though with his afflicted leg he can never quite gain momentum enough to gain more than a few feet at a time.
Tobias finds his wound to be a severe one, though the stick-bundled creature is now visible and prominent near the top of the hedge just above him, with return reach of his own weapon. He cannot see Ghillie Dhu directly from his vantage point, but assumes he is where the aerial assistant now hovers over the hedge maze; only Anneca knows for certain with her mystical connection to the being.
Can't take another hit like that. Tobias thinks to himself as he considers the situation. Drink a potion and hope I last long enough for back up, or try to strike him down myself?
Tobias sighs as he hefts his falchion and swings, hoping to feel Blixx crushed beneath the blow. Unfortunately his opponent is still standing despite the deep cut.
This is why I shouldn't gamble.
Willem continues to struggle, curse, and mumble something under his breath every so often probably to the effect that wants to burn the maze down knowing Willem.
”Oh my! My poor home! My poor friends! Ghillie Dhu will fix you, tend you, care for you! Oh yes...and then I shall have you drink deep the life-fluids of these mortals that dare defile our home and slander the mortal Queen! Drink deep you will…will squeeze the fluids out of their meat-sacks to slacken your thirst!” Ghillie Dhu continues to babble while desperately beating at the flames with his oaken cudgel. Soon, more sections of his hedges turn to ash and fall apart near his feet.
Blixx turns its head more in reaction to part of its body being sundered by the Beran warblade of Tobias, and then answers with another lash of its spear that nearly slices open the constable's neck. It actually laughs at Tobias and says in a hollow, raspy voice, "O podr aestno firog ar an ial, tiathiv, as barrog ar hauf as kergo fergad pof hio fen."
Tobias is clearly in trouble. With two vicious wounds pouring blood, Emerson is worried that he might fall before any help arrives from the others. He decides to take a shot at Blixx, even though it means he’ll be in the morass of grabbing weeds a few more seconds.
He rotates the barrel and pulls back the hammer. The shot is not an easy one but his line of sight is good. It probably helps that the fey creature is taunting Tobias when Emerson pulls the trigger.
”Boom!” Another report breaks the relative silence of the garden. Emerson’s aim is true and the filthy little creature falls off its perch on the top of the hedge wall.
Anneca eyes the air elemental hovering above her enemy, who she can hear babbling away from within the maze. With Emerson blasting away at one of the others, she has her target. Considering the barrage of withering gunfire that the others hit the fey beastling with at the onset of the attack, it must be significantly injured. "Time for the kill shot," she mutters as she runs forward. She measures the distance between herself and her aerial assistant, knowing that Ghillie Dhu will be below. While spatial reasoning has always been a skill of hers - as it has to be when throwing around huge flames - her connection with the elemental makes her know that she can get there, if barely. She breaks into a full sprint, drawing again on the power of the eagle coin she wears around her neck that also grants her dominion over the air elemental. She soars through the air, every bit as exhilarating as it was the first time, over the high hedges. She lets loose an excited battle cry as she sailrs towards her goal. "LIGHTING IT UP!"
She hits the top of the hedge nearest Ghillie Dhu, letting it absorb the impact of her landing as she sprawls into it. Immediately after landing, she stretches out her hand, aiming down at the faerie below as it tries to put the fire out. Unfortunately, she plans on adding to the flames. She flings a cone of scorching fire at it, engulfing the faerie entirely and all of the surrounding hedges. It isn't firing the Brand in terms of its destructive power, but it does the trick. A moment too late, she realizes that it may not have been the best tactical decision to light the foliage on fire when one is inside a maze of hedges. She shouts an instruction to the elemental, beckoning it to come down to her level. "Protect me!"
For a brief moment right as the cone of flames hits Ghillie Dhu, Anneca can see places where the burning of the nearest hedges themselves seems to cause his skin to smolder and burn, as if he is linked to the health of the hedges themselves. Then the flames wash over Ghillie Dhu and it doesn’t matter, as he is fully engulfed by them. ”NOOOOOOOOOOoooooo….” The shrieking wail falters in strength and pitch even as he falls to the ground, he and his club charred and burnt. No more words come from Ghillie Dhu now…
The aerial assistant heeds Anneca’s command to protect her, and swoops down over the newly burning hedges to hover right next to Anneca just above the hedges, looking for other enemies that might come against her.
A hollow shriek goes up from the hedges east of both Anneca and Ghillie Dhu, though all in the area of the hedge maze can hear it. Then it can be seen – Noxx the other strange sticklike creature with a thorny stick-spear and bundles of twigs and sticks bound by thorny vines around it ; it too looks charred from fire and partially broken by some sort of impact of a weapon upon it, one of its “legs” dangling to the side as it looms up from where it was hiding in the hedges.
Suddenly, it shifts from that place to another hedge-top much closer to Anneca and her aerial assistant, yet over on an adjacent hedge so that it is not in range of the elemental’s attacks. The charred and battered Noxx begins to quiver violently for a moment, as if threatening to shake apart, and then a baffling array of thorns and splinters fan out from the tiny fey foe towards Anneca and the elemental on the nearby hedge. Thorns and wooden splinters pierce Anneca all along her legs and back, blood dripping down into the hedge she lies upon. Her aerial assistant is pierced with what seems like hundreds of thorns at once and utters a whispered moan before fading entirely, as it can no longer hold its form together under the onslaught of projectiles.
Anneca cries out in pain and rage as the thorns stab into her body. "Ahh!" Instinctively, she summons more fire and throws it haphazardly at the faerie. The hedges light up in flames, engulfing the creature in smoke and fire. She rolls off the hedge, hitting the ground with a jarring impact before jumping to her feet with what little strength she has left. "Need backup!" Hopefully some of the other constables are out of the vines...
Hearing Anneca call for backup Tobias rushes further into the hedge maze hoping to assist but as he runs the wounds he's suffered remind him that he's hardly in any shape to save anyone but he's the only one in range.
"Fight me you damned thing!"
As he shouts, the suggestion he implanted in Gemma fades away and reforms in his own mind.
Full of spite and hatred to the mortals of the Waking, the fey creature called Noxx twists its knotted wooden head towards Tobias and his defiant stand, even as it nimbly dodges aside more of the fire surrounding it. Anneca’s latest blast of flame has nearly consumed it and done it in, but it has one more act of malevolence left within – with Anneca down on the other side of the farther hedge and Tobias standing so boldly, it turns with a high-pitched shriek to Tobias to finish him off. Shuddering violently once again, Tobias sees an incredible expulsion of thorns and wooden splinters streaming down the hedge row towards him, with nowhere for him to turn or dodge aside.
Strangely a shadowy mirror of Tobias seems to absorb the worst of the projectiles and transfers that into an instantaneous shadowy assault upon the other downed fey creature Blixx, which seems to all but fall apart from the impact. Tobias, however, catches more thorns into his face and chest, causing him to gasp and fall to the ground, unconscious and bleeding. A moment later Noxx shudders itself apart on top of the burning hedge, its legs giving way and falling back into the flames...
With a roar of effort Fethryth finally breaks the vines holding her back. She runs into the maze and follows the trail of destruction until she’s at Tobias’ side. ”Shit! Hang on, I’ve got you.”
Fethryth’s magic sits deep inside her, a small connection to the Dreaming that never goes away. In her mind she ‘grabs’ it with both hands, pulls off a tiny piece and ‘shoves’ it out of her and into Tobias. The rules of the Dreaming as very different from the rules of Lanjyr; something that’s ‘impossible’ can be accomplished by combining the two. This combination means that Tobias’ massive wounds remain, only they’ve stopped bleeding as quickly as someone turning off a faucet.
With Tobias stable, at least for now, Fethryth shifts her focus to the other injured constable. ”ANNECA! Can you move?”
Anneca pulls out a vial from her badolier, checks to make sure that it is not alchemist's fire, and drinks it down quickly. The bleeding wounds start to stanch as her skin heals with a searing pain, until the bleeding mostly ends. "I'm all right. Sort of surrounded by fire, though." She looks around at the flames, hoping that she hasn't just burned down the entire place. "We might want to get a move on."
Even as the constables all gain their way into the hedge maze and arrive to aid the unconscious Tobias and injured Anneca, a crackling and popping sound spells the end of the fey creature known as Noxx, burned up from the remains of Anneca's last fiery spell where it fell. Anneca herself saw that Ghillie Dhu seemed to be mortally burned where he lay deeper in the maze, the added hedges burning from her spells just too much for him to overcome. She limps back around the corner to where Tobias and the others are now forming up. The other fey creature, Blixx, lies still atop the hedge nearby, but it is unclear whether it still lives or not up there. The maze otherwise seems quiet and devoid of any other foes that would prevent them from passing.
Fortunately for the constables, the hedges also provide them adequate cover from the occasional arrow launched their way from the inner walls, as more Risuri rebels now try to find their return to defending the walls from the loyalist marines outside. Yet the greatest sounds of battle can be heard from the central keep tower - the sounds of steel-on-steel can be heard from the ground floor of their ultimate destination...as well as the pitiful cries of men dying and screaming in terrible pain. Asrabey Varal seems intent upon taking the last bastion of Ethelyn all by himself, a lone juggernaut that for now cannot be stopped by mortal men.
Emerson holsters his pepperbox and redoubles his efforts to get out of the clinging vines to aid Tobias. It takes only a few more seconds but seems like an eternity. He keeps an eye out for stray arrows from the wall as he is the most exposed of the group at the moment.
Once he reaches the others he draws his wand and gets to work healing the injured. Once this is done he stows the wand back in his satchel. He looks around making sure no one else needs attention when he notices the motionless Blixx on top of the hedge. He unslings his carbine and walks over to the base of the hedge. Emerson sets the barrel of the musket below the fey creature and unceremoniously pulls the trigger. The blast rings out as the creature is annihilated into a cloud of splinters and leaves.
He looks around as he reloads all his firearms and says almost to himself ”Had to be sure…”
Tobias regains consciousness and stares up at the rest of the Constables. "Thanks Emerson, looks like you saved my hide twice just in the last few minutes."
He stands up and shakes his head before picking up his blade and making sure he's ready to move on. "No argument from me." He mutters as Emerson makes sure Blixx is gone for good. "I'm ready to go when everyone else is. Let's get out of these damn hedges."
"No worries Constable Utegg. I'm sure you would have done the same thing were the roles reversed."
Emerson nods that he is ready to follow Utegg's lead. "I'm ready to go. But before we get too far, should we discuss tactics on how best to defeat Varal?"
By the time that the fighting has ended Jesselle finally makes her way into the garden maze. 'Damn weeds!'
She moves up with the others to see that part of the hedges still on fire from Anneca's spell.
"Honestly, I do not think we fight him. How do you fight something that has apparently waded through two armies and nothing thrown at him slows him down. He is what the fey Lords call upon to fight on the mortal realm. Apparently he has some mission or goal in mind, perhaps it is best to a) Stay out of his way to do whatever it is he is here to do, b) offer to help him out, or c) attempt to negotiate some sort of truce with him."
She points to the keep, "He is already in there taking the Duchess' forces apart."
With everyone back up and assembled, the constables proceed through the burnt remains of the hedges in the southeast area, moving around the southwestern hedges to wind their way around to the entrance of the central keep tower. Before they can get beyond the maze, the sounds of fighting and dying at the tower’s entrance fades, with only an occasional shout or sound of battle coming from deep within. At the inner walls to the north the sounds of battle are starting up in earnest; rebels along the northern walls and main gate are fighting loyalists bringing up siege towers, as Admiral Jellicoe seems to have ordered a full attack from that direction.
As the constables emerge into the final courtyard around the tower, they see it stands some eighty feet tall, with narrowed reinforced windows that suggest at least four floors, not including the roof itself. The roof has crenelated battlements and would provide rebel soldiers good lines of fire against them coming across the short inner courtyard, but no sightings of rebels are seen at all atop the tower. From their vantage point along the south side of the tower there is a narrow metal staircase that leads from a balcony on the third floor to the roof itself, near an enclosed section at the top on the southwest corner. The Danoran captives back at the brig said the tower’s top level is some sort of large observatory, with a large telescope that can observe the Heavens when the roof’s main doors are open to the sky.
It doesn’t take the Seven long to observe the passage of Asrabey Varal – they find the front doors to the central keep ajar and burning, as if blasted asunder by some terrible magical force. At least four or five rebel soldiers lie dead and scattered around the open doorway, slashed and charred, with spilled blood all along the ground. From the outside they believe they can see the lowermost part of a broad staircase that ascends up to the second floor, as well as one that delves down to what must be a basement level underneath the tower. More rebel bodies lie in smoking ruin along the stairs leading upwards.
”Well, we know which way Varal went” Fethryth says dryly. ”I think we should follow his trail. This isn’t a social call; whatever he’s been sent for has to be big. It’s as good of a starting point as we’re gonna get”
"I do agree that it may not be necessary to fight Varal, but we must be ready for it. Anneca has a wand that can impart magical quality to our weapons. That may give us an edge that these troops most likely did not have."
As Emerson surveys the carnage left by Asrabey Varal he is assaulted by ghostly images of past battles. At one time these memories almost consumed his sanity, but now with the help of mental exercises, they are much less severe. He pushes them out of his minds eye and gets back to the task at hand.
"There." He points to the exterior staircase leading to the roof. "That must be the path to the observatory Lieutenant Marseine mentioned. Who's got the key that unlocks the door?"
Gemma has been noticeably quiet since the group's encounter with Ghillie Dhu. Other than a quick, under the breath statement about how she told everyone to not go into the hedges and an obligatory "Is everyone alright?" question, she hasn't said much else.
As they approach the path of destruction of Asrabey Varal, Gemma goes over to one of the bodies on the stairwell, gently poking at it with her boot. "Poor bastard...never even new what hit him."
She readies her crossbow and makes sure her pistol is loaded and ready, taking quick looks up the stairs to make sure no one is coming. "So are we ready to do this, constables, or what?"
Willem looks irritable after dealing with the vines. He then makes sure he is loaded with Cold-Iron rounds since the dealings with fey seems to be increasing. After making sure he is ready, he switches to a ready hold while watching his muzzle to make sure he is not going to accidentally shoot one of his colleagues in the rear, "I am ready Constable Atherton if everyone else is healthy and ready to go."
"Or what," Jesslle chimes in from the back of the group as she lets out a chuckle. She then becomes serious to the matters at hand and comments, "Whenever you are."
She grips her masterwork shortbow tightly as she peers about for any possible dangers at hand.
The constables move into the central keep tower unopposed, moving up the staircase after briefly surveying the remains of what was once the command center of the rebel companies, with various messages and maps on fire or already turned to ash. From a military standpoint, they know that without directed coordination and support from the central keep and its observation points, there is no way the rebels on the inner walls can hold out a defense for long against the loyalists.
The second floor has arrow slits and channels to pour boiling oil upon attackers that would try and breach the bottom floor doors, but all that remain here are just four dead bodies by the stairs opposite the second floor landing, slashed and burned like the others, swords and spears seemingly doing little to nothing against the eladrin enforcer of the Unseen Court. The hallways leading from the main landing areas have several doors open to peer inside, suggesting living quarters for the elite military officers and guests that occupied the tower. It is even possible one of the rooms on this floor is for Ethelyn herself, and that of her handmaiden Sorkana and the wretched halfling assassin Ilton. Yet with the faint sounds of fighting going on somewhere above them, they press on.
As the constables approach the third floor of the tower, the smell of burnt flesh and blood is staggering. A terrible battle has occurred here across the landing and into the nearby lavishly decorated rooms, with no less than two-dozen rebel soldiers lying about, dead or nearly so. From the damage across the walls and upon the floors it is clear that several of the rebel officers were either storm druids or war mages; melting water in one area suggests ice magic, while pinpoint scorch marks and the smell of ozone suggests at least one directed lightning attack was used. Pockmarks on the bloody but once-fine marble floor suggest acid dripping from either alchemy or yet more magic used. Rebels have been slashed and burned with some decapitations and severing of limbs, though some appear to have been mauled and torn apart by some terrible fanged beast from the looks of it. By the looks of the carnage and the sounds of fighting continuing to be heard from upstairs, it seems the battle did not end here but became a moving fight upstairs to the observatory level. By the stairs, several discarded small crystal vials sculpted in the shape of leaves and etched with sylvan runes can be found, though the liquid in them is now all but gone, the faint smell of honey and herbs lingers in them.
The broken doors to the one of the once-lavish rooms shows a grand library, with fine bookcases that go all the way to the ceiling filed with books, the floors set with exquisitely embroidered rugs in the Danoran fashion, mostly intact but with the one closest to the doors charred and soaked with blood from two rebel officers that died where they stood. One section of the wall bearing a grand map of Lanjyr in tapestry form is charred and burnt on its lower-right corner, but even this pales in comparison to another wall bearing what seems to be a woven tapestry of the Heavens, with denotations of the various celestial bodies that fill the night sky. Detailed maps of Axis Island are set in a glass-encased table in one area of the library where lush couches and sitting chairs are found, making the setting an ideal place for scholars and philosophers if not for the carnage by the doors. Light comes in from tall narrow windows here that face north and west, but they are reinforced and barred to provide no access to the outside.
Off of a short southern hallway by the bloody third-story landing, a locked and barred reinforced iron door can clearly be seen at the tower wall’s edge, suggesting the access to the service balcony they spied from the hedge maze. It apparently was not used during the battle recently, either for escape or for reinforcements.
A great thudding ~BOOM!!~ is heard from upstairs, followed by several screams and the sounds of howling dogs or wolves. The battle continues on, and the constables have a choice to make…
While Willem has his rifle safely pointed up the stairs to cover the unknown, he whispers to the Constables, "My vote is to press forward up them stairs and force thee attacker into a two front battle which usually equals a loss for that individual or army. We can also use the bodies for cover dependin' on how they fell and use any equipment they may have that we can use. Sorry if I seem like a wretch for that but I will mourn for them later when it is safe to do so."
"Let's go where the action is," Anneca suggests. She can't help but be impressed by the sheer ease of the warrior's passage through enemy territory and the amount of fiery destruction that he managed to muster. He might not be their ally, but he has certainly cleared the way for them. She stops at the tapestry of the Heavens, trying to determine what they were planning with it, but only has a moment before it is time to move forward with their attack. "Maybe he's there to kill Ethelyn and it's out of our hands - oh well, couldn't have happened to a nicer lady, we'll be going now." She looses a grim smile as she prepares to climb the bloody stairs.
"Of course we could always come up ahead, or at least bind them from somewhere they would not expect us." Jesselle suggests.
"We go up the stairs then. Take the fighting to them. I have no problem going first but whoever is the quietest should probably scout it out."
"Not a bad idea Gemma, I should be able to move quietly enough. I'll see what's ahead of us."
Unfortunately Tobias barely makes it five feet before stubbing a toe and cursing loudly. He has the decency to at least blush as he looks back at the rest of the constables. "Unless, of course, anyone else believes they're more qualified?"
"I would have preferred to sneak up to the roof and then attack from above, but if you all are set on a frontal assault, who am I to argue?"
Emerson cringes slightly at Tobias' attempt at stealth but quickly adds "You know, they're in the middle of a fight. Perhaps they just won't notice the seven of us approach."
Hill checks his firearms and then un-slings his rifle and keeps it at the ready. "I'm ready."
"Attacking from the roof might be a good idea but I'd like to be under Asrabey's flame with room to run rather than over it, I think. Plus, he's being so considerate and clearing such a nice path for us to get to our target."
Gemma waits to see if anyone else volunteers to go first, but once it's decided and they start to move, she moves quietly and deliberately.
"Then let's get-ah @*%#. " Fethryth curses as an idea pops into her head. "Whatever Varal's here for, he's not here as the Duchess' ally, otherwise he wouldn't be frying those poor rebel bastards. He's making enough noise to wake the dead and if I heard that coming for me I'd be looking for an escape route. If we want to get to the Duchess before he does, and we do-" she puts a heavy emphasis on the last word "- we need to go around. If we’re lucky we grab Ethelyn and get out without having to fight Varal "
Willem nods, "Not only because of the flame but attacking from the stairs it is not really a frontal assault, it is an assault from the rear. If we went up on the roof, that was more of a frontal assault."
Willem then starts to follow Constable Atherton quietly...
Well attempts to until his stomach starts growling loudly and as a result, Willem has a sheepish look.
Jesselle follows along with the rest of the group...
Two groups of constables leave the scholarly third floor for the final level of the observatory. Using their R.H.C. pocketwatches to mark the time, the smaller group of Fethryth, Emerson and Jesselle unbar the service door to the balcony and make their way up to the roof, requiring approximately one minute's lead to time their entry to the roof hatch where they hope the Danoran lieutenant's key will work for them.
After the required minute has passed on their timepieces, the larger group of Gemma, Tobias, Anneca and Willem hear no sounds of conflict from the immediate outside, and proceed up the stairs to the observatory level as stealthily as they can. They heard the howling and snarling of wolves earlier, but now no sounds of battle can be heard above them. Bodies, however, litter the stairs up to the fourth story, which makes it slower going as they try not to disturb fallen weapons that could trip them or inadvertently announce their arrival to whichever side proved victorious just moments earlier.
Only when they get to the last five feet to the bloody fourth floor landing do they hear a harsh debate going on in the Primordial tongue between victor and vanquished...
"Asrabey, do not do anything you shall regret.”
“Save your pleading breath for final prayers, Ethelyn."
“If you have come for the reason I suspect your so-called "monarch" has put you on, you should pray to the Heavens with me as well. Do you not realize you are a murderer, Asrabey? Did I so displease the Court that you needed to slaughter a hundred to reach me?”
“To forestall war, yes! Your treachery has already caused rifts in the Court, both Greater and Lesser! Besides, the mortals of the Waking must not think we are the ally of a kingslayer. A murderer of her own blood at that. And worse...one who consorts with the Cursed!”
The smaller group hears the same exchange as well, having just carefully used the key to open the door to the enclosure atop the roof, the words drifting up to them from the observatory below them where dark stairs descend down towards a raised platform.
For both groups, they cannot see Asrabey or Ethelyn, but can clearly hear a third voice somewhere near to them, a male voice that is meek and shaking with fear.
"P-perhaps reason is t-too much to expect at this time, but can we talk about what you...AHH!"
The sounds of flame and a snapping sound from a whip cuts the voice short, though it sounds as if the third man is silenced from fear as opposed to violence. It is Asrabey Varal who answers him next.
"Silence! You are fortunate your cursed flesh will not burn from my Vekeshi blade. Yet I have many other ways to make you suffer." There is a pause, and then Asrabey says to Ethelyn, "Now prepare yourself, traitor to both realms, and you may at least die with dignity from my sword as the warrior you once were."
"Wait! Even my brother would not execute his own blood! So long as I live the prophecy of our Doom for both realms may yet be told! There are more important matters than..."
"Stay your tongue, else I shall rip it from you!"
Jesselle moves just slightly forward to get a better vantage...
With a sheepish look and his stomach making noises, Willem stays where he is at.
Emerson tries to get a better viewing angle as Jesselle moves forward but gives up after a few seconds. He looks back at Fethryth and says "I'm really not good at sneaking around. At least not since the old war wound. Feel free to join Jesselle. I'll come running if there's a ruckus."
With that, he readies his musket, thumbing the hammer in preparation. 'Well, what's the worst that can happen? a few burns? maybe a concussion? Heh.'
Fethryth shakes her head and whispers a response. "She's better than I am. I'm staying back unless it all goes to shit" The constable shifts herself into a runner's crouch; if anyone moves to attack Jesselle they're going to end up with her fist in their face instead.
With no one else moving Tobias moves up a couple inches and tries to see what's actually going on in the next room.
Let's hope this goes better than creeping up the stairs.
Gemma sees Tobias move forward and follows. She peeks around the corner. Her crossbow, with it's cold iron-tipped bolts, is lowered so that it's nose poking out doesn't give her away.
"You know this will probably end badly either way, right?"
The whisper is very quiet and right near Tobias' ear so as not to be overheard by anyone.
From your vantage point at the top of the stairs, you see the aftermath of a terrible and bloody battle with what must have been the last of Ethelyn’s rebel advisors and elite guards. In the antechamber landing at the top of the stairs you count no less than eight bodies of soldiers and at least one war mage, with over a half-dozen bodies inside the high-roofed observatory from your vantage point, including three atop the higher platform that houses the great telescope. Blood is everywhere, as is the smell of burnt flesh and choking smoke that is now dissipating.
Though you cannot see Ethelyn from where you are , there are several slain wolves between where she must be by the far wall to your left and the terrible standing form of Asrabey Varal , his fiery blade still outstretched in one hand, though he has his shield down touching the floor and uses it to lean upon. The leopard-faced shield bears fresh blood on its bas-relief fangs, and his flaming sword flares whenever he emphasizes a word or sentence. He’s covered in cuts and bruises, showing a multitude of wounds across his legs and arms, some fresh and some faint as if previously healed. The smoke shroud from his cloak is faint now, and does not hang around or obscure him. The slashed and scorched wolves are fading from existence, a last bit of summoning by the former Duchess that did not succeed in protecting her. The other male’s voice is coming from your right, and you cannot see his state of injury or anything about him.
From your vantage point peering down from the top of the stairwell going to a landing by the famed observatory telescope, you see the aftermath of a terrible and bloody battle with what must have been the last of Ethelyn’s rebel advisors and elite guards. You count close to a dozen bodies of soldiers, war mages and storm druids in the observatory, including three that were killed on the platform of the great telescope before you. More bodies fill the antechamber adjoining the observatory, which seems to be where the other group would be coming up the tower stairs to. Blood is everywhere, as is the smell of burnt flesh and choking smoke that is now dissipating.
Though you cannot fully see Ethelyn from where you are due to the telescope and its mount obstructing your view, you think you see her legs outstretched, as if she is lying down and leaning against the far right-hand wall ; there are several slain wolves between where she is and the terrible standing form of Asrabey Varal , his fiery blade still outstretched in one hand, though he has his shield down touching the floor and uses it to lean upon. The leopard-faced shield bears fresh blood on its bas-relief fangs, and his flaming sword flares whenever he emphasizes a word or sentence. He’s covered in cuts and bruises, showing a multitude of wounds across his legs and arms, some fresh and some faint as if previously healed. The smoke shroud from his cloak is faint now, and does not hang around or obscure him. The slashed and scorched wolves are fading from existence, a last bit of summoning by the former Duchess that did not succeed in protecting her. The other male’s voice is coming straight ahead of you and you clearly see him huddled behind an overturned map table with a single scorch mark upon it – a Malice-Born or “Cursed” male dressed in finely embroidered clothing that denotes no martial prowess, further made obvious by the fact that he has no weapons and is cowering behind the scorched table. The male seems unhurt, though that could change rapidly enough.
For all the constables, the unfolding argument between Asrabey Varal, Ethelyn Lesterman and the third “Cursed” male continues, all of them seemingly oblivious to your presence. Asrabey seems to be justifying his actions to slay Ethelyn for whatever reason.
“You struck the first blow, Ethelyn, the cowardly blow of an assassin without honor. Aodhan was a soldier before he was king, as I am…as you were once…and therefore you should know that forgiveness does not come easily to our kind. He’ll never listen to you now, not in the short years of mortality he has left. Already you are vilified! You promised the Court that Risur would pull away from these cursed fiends when the mantle was rightfully bestowed to you after your brother's natural death. You promised you would return your people to the old ways, yet here you have fallen in with them yourself!”
“You don’t understand, Asrabey. The Doom has been seen in the Heavens. I could no longer afford to wait! Nathan here is on our side! There is a dire threat to Risur, both to the Waking and the Unseen! I told the Monarch of the Court as much at the Vernal Equinox, told the fey lords but they would not listen except for Beshela and Olazdor and possibly Sallin…”
“ENOUGH! Enough. The Monarch will deal with the treachery of Beshela and the seditious ravings of Olazdor and the others that always seek disunity with the Unseen Court! That is no longer your concern, only how you wish to enter the Bleak Gate. Ethelyn, do not make me watch you beg before the end comes to you.”
After a long moment, Ethelyn says coldly , “Asrabey Varal, your closed mind has doomed us all. Very well. Finish it.”
To the constables, the next sound should be the final strike of Asrabey with his Vekeshi warblade, but the meek voice of Nathan seems to stay the execution.
“Wait! Wait a moment, great and terrible lord! Varal? Are you kin to a Kasvarina Varal? If so, know that she sees my people as no enemy! Kasvarina Varal was just here in fact!”
Yet there do appear to be weaknesses. Volleys of arrows do show the occasional nick or graze that managed to pierce between points of weaker coverage. The armor shows signs of being pitted or corroded where powerful acid has seeped through or around the armor. Pinpoint scorch marks of lightning suggest he has a weakness there if the electricity is powerful enough. Other impact points suggest that magical missile bolts of pure force have affected him across his chest and legs, despite the powerful armor. His enchantments clearly suggest he is immune to fire, and that he has some wards against ice and electricity, but the warrior is not immune to magical attack. Where arrows, bolts and blades will surely fail, other modern weapons not known by the fey may bypass or sunder their enchantments. He has expended several vials of what must surely be healing tonics. Though still extremely lethal and protected, Asrabey Varal is not the impervious warrior he seems to be.
Jesslle watches the scene below unfold wondering what she should do. The Duchess death would solve so many problems and with it at the hand of the fey themselves no real blame. So she continues to watch.
Emerson moves up to Jesselle's position as slowly and carefully as he can so as not to draw attention to them. He takes in the scene before them and immediately sees Varal's condition for what it is. Tapping Wesmere on the shoulder he whispers "Oh, he's in a bad way. Look how he's leaning on his shield. And see how he is trying to hide the fact that he is shaking? He must have some bad internal wounds. He might be able to strike down Ethelyn but I bet we could bring him down."