"I'm getting the rest of 'em. You can save Smenk and Tilgast and Parrin if you want but leave these to me, okay?" She turns briefly, lips pursed grimly and hair frizzing. "Cubbin's distracted, the manor's in uproar. This is my best chance."
She hurries down the stairs.
"Astraden! STOP!" Carina yells as she runs after her. "Why are you doing this?!"
"They killed my parents!" She stops at the bottom of the stairs. "Carina, did you even know your real family?"
Carina stops in front of Astraden again. "No, I didn't." She folds her arms. "Alessia was the only family I had, and the only family I needed." Her tone is calm, if a bit exhausted.
The mention of the managers killing Astraden's parents causes Carina's face to soften a bit. "Astraden, could you please explain? I could definitely see Smenk doing that, but the rest?"
"They have this culture . . . if someone's mine collapses, that's not what gets them mad. What gets them mad is someone taking away their money!" Her knuckles tighten. "Smenk's the worst, but he's not the only one who's let his workers die. Remember what happened with Dourstone? They don't care about us!"
Carina lets Astraden's words sink in. They killed her parents through a mine collapse?
Mining injuries were the most common ailments Carina had to treat with her mother during their stay in town. While some miners were lucky enough to get a way with a few bruises, some of the injuries of others could be quite gruesome--coughing up vital fluids from inhaling coal dust, broken bones sticking up through the skin, and even one case where a man's arm was so badly mangled Alessia had no choice but to amputate it.
None of those memories were especially pleasant... but then again, neither was the idea of one of her friends committing murder.
"And you think killing them will change that?" She asks softly, her arms going to her sides.
Astraden grins fiercely, but there are tears in her eyes. "Ha! Hell no. But I'm not letting them do it again." She glances down the hallway. "Sorry, Carina." She runs off.
Before the priestess can get very far, Carina runs in front of her and stops again.
"Astraden! Please!" Carina's desperation comes through in her voice now. "If killing them won't change anything, why are you stooping to their level?!" Her eyes tearing up. "I know you're better than this!"
She's being loud. Anyone upstairs would likely be able to hear her...
"It WILL change something. It changes it so that no one else loses their god damn parents." Astraden shoves past her friend and keeps moving.
Confident that Smenk was down for the count, Tanith takes off after the women.
”Red, slow down! Where are you going?”
Carina gets roughly shoved aside by Astraden, and the priestess continues on her way.
Hearing Tanith coming, she does the only thing she can do.
"Tanith! Help me--Astraden's going to kill the managers!" Her voice is choked up.
”She’s what?!”
Tanith takes off at a sprint.
Catching up with Carina, the big Kordite looks around. ”Which way did they go? Why does she want to kill them? We’ve got Smenk.”
Trembling, Carina pushes herself up from the wall and points down the hallway where Astraden went.
"She said the managers killed her parents..." She says, her voice shaky. "She's tunnel-visioned on them. I couldn't stop her..."
Astraden keeps running, hoping to catch Gansworth or Moonmeadow outside. Her thoughts brush over what Carina said. Does she really want to kill them, and doom herself? This had felt like her chance but . . . there could be some other way to get the last four out of power. There was still chaos to take advantage of. She slows to a walk.
"It's safe!" she calls to Trask and the managers as she comes out. "Smenk has been apprehended." She waits by the door for them to file past.
Tolliver Trask reenters the building alongside Blitzhame, Lanod, and Gansworth. Moonmeadow seems to have taken the excuse to skedaddle.
"Is Tilgast alright?" Trask asks.
Carina runs up in time to see everyone else reenter the building.
"He's... *pant*... going to be okay. I saved... *pant* him." The poor undine is exhausted from chasing the priestess around and relieved that nothing drastic has happened yet.
Spotting Astraden (and seeing that she’s not covered in blood), Tanith breathes easier.
”Thank the Brawler”, he says. ”Red said you were planning on doing something you might regret.”
"Yes, I no doubt would have!" Astraden seems to have recovered herself unusually rapidly.
”I’m glad but I’ll back you in whatever you do”, the hulking Kordite offers. ”We’ve been through hell together. You should know I’ll have your back here too.”
Clearly too tired to care overmuch about how genuine Astraden's smile is, Carina just smiles back and moves to give the priestess a hug.
"Thank Fharlanghn... please don't scare me like that again."
Astraden's smile softens a little, and she pats Carina's back. "Thanks guys. I would have done it if not for you." She returns upstairs, sheathing her blade.
Carina follows Astraden back upstairs, staying close to Tanith as she does.
After wiping the blood from pounding Smenk's face off on his cloak, Tanith wraps an arm around Carina and rejoins the others.
Not quite grasping the severity of the situation, Eben stays behind, double checking that Tilgast is doing better, making sure that Smenk doesn't revive (including going through his pockets to loot the bastard make sure he doesn't ahve any other tricks tucked up his sleeves, or flesh folds) and just otherwise babysitting. As people start filing back in, he looks up. "Everything alright, then?" He holds up the syringe. "You guys smashed him right in time. He was about to inject this and fly away."
Carina looks at the syringe, then glares at Smenk's bloodied, unconscious body. "Well, I suppose we can add charges of assault, attempted murder and resisting arrest to his list of charges."
She glances over at the others. "I don't think we need a trial here to determine his guilt of THOSE. Do whatever you want with him--I think we're done here."
She looks up at Tanith, briefly noting how bloodied he is. "Tanith? Are you doing okay?"
"Why don't we just hang Smenk right now, out in public?" Cuetzpalli asks. He'd been restraining Spiny from devouring the fatty, blood-covered, mine manager-snack. "We already know he's guilty of many capital crimes."
He looks at Astraden concernedly. If they need to die, I'll help you do it. But chasing them down in the street is not the proper way, he thinks.
"What, do you want to build the gallows that will hold him?" Eben snarks. "Like I said, I don't think it's neccesary. Let him face whatever justice Diamond Lake brings him. I think the people around here deserve to see him dragged through the mud for as long as that takes. And if there's a noose at the end of all that, great. I don't want to immediately lynch the guy right now just because it'd be fun, though."
”The bastard bled all over me when I broke his nose”, the big man explains. ”But it was worth it!”
Rejoining the others, Tanith finds himself agreeing with Eben.
”Diamond Lake’s suffered under Smenk’s greed for years. It wouldn’t be fair for us to end him here. The whole town deserves a chance to witness his fall.”
Carina isn't paying attention to the argument over Smenk's fate--she's too busy examining Tanith for injuries.
Carina smiles after she finishes her examination.
"To be honest, I don't care either way what happens to him." She says, looking at Smenk. "He's beaten and broken--that's enough for me."
She snuggles closer to her brawny protector.
No visible injuries, but this might necessitate a closer... examination.
She starts blushing a bit. ...did I seriously just think that? Oh, heavens...
”So what’s next?” Tanith asks aloud as he feels Carina press up against him.
”Diamond Lake’s safe from the Triad and in better hands I think”, he says with a nod at Zalamandra. ”And we’re flush with coin. The Free City maybe? I feeling like I’ve outgrown this place.”
Carina nods, then gets a downcast look. "That does sound like a good idea, but I still have some things to do here... ya know, getting my second restoration and all that. I should also let Venelle know where I'm going in case Mom comes back from Mistmarsh..."
"Isn't that what publicly means?" Cuetzpalli mutters. "I think heading to the Free City is a great idea. I've got some things I'd like to buy that Diamond Lake just isn't big enough for."
"We can let the people take over gallows-building, if they want it."
Carina gives Astraden and Cuetzpalli another glance. "Perhaps that would be for the best--we've done a lot for them already. I think we can trust them to hang Smenk."
"Now, if there's nothing else, I'd like to get started on scribing these scrolls we have. Also, didn't you guys find some spellbook with another spell I can transcribe to a formula?" Carina starts toward the courtroom door, one hand on a scroll she purchased from Khellek.
"Yes, the 'Faceless One' had one bound in couatl skin."
Hearing it mentioned, Tanith digs out the worn tome and offers it to Carina.
”You going to miss Diamond Lake?”
Carina takes the spellbook with a great deal of reluctance when she hears what it's bound in.
”You going to miss Diamond Lake?”
"Like I miss Other Me, Tanith." She says, looking up at him while still holding the Faceless One's spellbook.
Tanith laughs.
”As crummy as it is, Diamond Lake is home for me. I’m going to miss a few things but I’m happy to say I’ll be taking the best parts of it with me.”
The big Kordite finishes with a nod at his friends and a squeeze on Carina against his side.
Carina just smiles and rests her cheek against Tanith's muscular chest.
On Smenk:
"Besides, I doubt he'll survive the night in jail anyway. Parrin was itching to get her claws in him. You could see it in her eyes. He'll be brought to justice, one way or another."
On The Free City:
"Oh HELL yes! I've always wanted to go there. Told myself 'Farrukh, you're headed to Greyhawk when you can afford it' when I came here looking for cairns. Well, finally found a good one, even if it wasn't what I expected. I'll be more than happy to get out of this hellhole."