Goriel and beyond, part 2

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Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Alberich »

The only woman who actually approached Rose was Marfa, the wife of Sevastien - the only one who hadn't seemed appalled on the subject of magic. She laid a hand on Rose's shoulder, provoking a flinch. She spoke softly.

"It's nothing for us," she said. "If there's assassins in there with those fellows, by the time we heard about it, they're dead or captured. And if they're captured they'll be praying for death, if I know His Lordship."

The other ladies were acting terrified and whispering among themselves. Lillith was able to hear it - and quickly came to see that their fear was not of the assassins (going in there to do violence was like walking into the lion's den wearing armor of bacon), nor even of any other assassins that might be around, but of the clan's status and their own. Judging by the level of horror that was dawning on them, for an assassin to get into the hall while guests were present was serious blow to the entire clan's honor and especially the chief's. And if the assassins actually managed to hurt any guests...their children's marriage prospects had just suffered mortal blows, as bad as anything dealt out in the feasting hall. They were comforting each other as best they could.

[OOC: I don't think this part of the adventure can move any more 'til we hear from Argus and Eli - the Yurkashevs in the hall are moving to attack the assassins, who have only seconds to do any assassinating they're of a mind to. Given all the healing magic that's available to this group, I don't see how any of the PC's would actually die here, though they might get stabbed some depending on what they do. Though the PC's may not know that...]
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Eli spat wine and scrambled backwards, cursing all the while, at the sudden appearance of the assassins. The half-elf tried to make a beeline for his sword but found his path suddenly blocked by one of them.

He cursed again, threw the goblet in his hand at the man's face and watched him slice the thing neatly out of the air with aggravating accuracy. A moment later the assassin lunged, trying to skewer the half elf where he stood.

"Deflect!"

The blade turned aside with a crackle of energy a split second before it would've buried itself in Eli's guts. He dimly registered that he'd just broken some kind of protocol, but that information was low on his list of concerns at that moment. The half-elf aimed, channeled, and fired a tight stream of fire directly at his attacker's head. The man fell backwards screaming, his beard a bonfire and his skin boiling on his face. Eli jumped over the charring man and finished the run to his weapon.
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Drannin
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Drannin »

Two assassins lunged at Argus, who narrowed his eyes in frustration. Damnation. He had been hoping to keep his magical abilities hidden, but it seemed that option was going to be denied him. So be it.

Almost casually, Argus raised his right hand, palm open, as the two assassins raised their swords to strike... and fired a pulse of electrical energy which swept over their bodies, charring and burning. The two men fell dead, and Argus sighed as he rose to his feet, cool as ice, already searching the crowd for his next target. He noticed Chief Shashenka staring at him in shock and winced. "My apologies for that breach of protocol. I know how restricted magic is in your city. Perhaps we can discuss it later?" Without waiting for a response, Argus grabbed a spear hanging on the wall and twirled it into a defensive posture, readying more lightning magic. Best to keep his specialty unknown, at least for the moment.

It never occurred to Argus just how cold and intimidating his face was at that moment, as old instincts took over. A third swordsman charged him, screaming something while swinging his sword with something that might have approximated skill. With a mental shrug, Argus blocked the thrust with the halt of his spear, twirled it to knock the man;s feet out from under him, and finished off with a downward thrust, ending it. Fortunately, staff training applied quite well to the use of a spear.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Jack Rothwell »

The remaining assailants were now either fleeing or were quickly surrounded by the Yurkashevs and put to death. Eli had enough time to exchange a few swings with one of the last of the group before a distraction from one of the Clan's warriors drew the assassin's attention long enough for the half-elf to lunge forward cut the man's throat. He fell gurgling, the only sound to break the shocked silence which descended upon the hall.

Eli strode to the fallen body with a snarl etched on his face. He hawked, spat on the corpse and sheathed his sword in a ferocious gesture.

"A fine job you men did running security around here." He seethed, glaring at the people around him.

OOC How close to midnight are we atm?/OOC
Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Alberich »

When Eli took his initial roll back to go for his sword, an assassin made for his back. Tim had pulled the knife from his sleeve and leaped up to block him - determined, above all things, that the half-elf should not die while his soul was in thrall to the dark powers he had been invoking. This unfortunately left him with nothing but flesh to stop the assassins who were aiming at him. He went down under their knives. (And yet, as it turned out, his wounds were not fatal.)

Brother Brad, at least, had the good sense to see that "anti-magic protocols" were second priority here and to get a barrier up. He didn't have the good sense not to wish for his pistol, the one Rose had confiscated (in his hands, that weapon would have been more a danger to his friends than the entire force of the enemy). This put him in a purely defensive posture but it blocked a couple of the enemy for a moment - and a moment was all they needed.

Some of the Yurkashev men had attacked immediately with their own large knives. And some had run to the walls to grab their larger weapons. The fury was in their faces, multiplied fourfold by the nature of this attack and the wine they had drunk. Vasil, the guide who had brought the guests here, had leaped straight on them with his knife and taken wounds. Yakov, his rival in the dance, hacked his opponent down with an axe. Luka, the merry jokester of the Yurkashev, skewered another with a spear. Most of the assassins were cut to pieces in seconds. For all they fought like furies, they didn't stand a chance, and they didn't act like men who thought they did. A couple survived but only because His Lordship wished it.

Lord Yurkashev, a cruelly efficient knife fighter, had managed to bring down two of the enemy himself. The one he'd first faced, he'd slashed that man's popliteal tendon and thrown him to the floor. The other was being held from behind by Sevastien and had been slashed in the groin. A kinsman with a sword was approaching, but Shashenka's order was fierce and brooked no argument - "No! - We take him alive! Bind up their wounds!" His own wound, in the arm, bled freely - he paid it no mind for the moment. The men of his household were stanching Tim's blood and calling for help. On orders, they managed also to save three of the enemy.

"My apologies for that breach of protocol. I know how restricted magic is in your city. Perhaps we can discuss it later?"

Shashenka kept his words in the same idiom, though his tone was a little drained of life - "Your courtesy does you credit, but it is I who am at fault, and will do all in my power to make amends. May I at least offer you my hospitality for the rest of your stay? My house shall be as your own, and my own bed shall be yours" -- there was risk in that; Argus would be well within his rights to refuse on the grounds that this House had not kept him safe, and His Lordship would suffer another catastrophic loss of honor beyond the one he already had -- "And to have a hand in the fate of these men?" - he gestured at the prisoners, now being held fast by enraged Yurkashevs. "It is too little but I will find more ways yet to make recompense."
Grimly, Sevastien spoke. "They will tell us who sent them, or they will know the pains of Anja, and beg for death!"

More grimly, Shashenka spoke, "Wrong, brother. They will tell us everything and beg for death in their agony!"

"A fine job you men did running security around here." Eli seethed, glaring at the people around him.

The color was out of their faces and their lips snarled -- but there was nothing they could do. Even within the dreadful, skewed "morality" of Goriel - Eli was in the right. They had knives stuck in their honor, far more painful to them than any wounds from the fight, and if Eli wanted to twist them - there was nothing these pround young men could do except stand there and take it, while they listened to their lord apologize and humbly offer expiation.

The chief pointed to Tim's bloody body and spoke to Shashenka. "Tend that one - him before Vasil!" He grasped his own arm. "Me last." (Vasil was Shashenka's own son, as Argus might remember.) And Eli was just starting to wonder how close it was to midnight. And then as if to answer him --

In a distant room of the compound, a clock struck midnight, and a trusted man of the household struck the midnight gong, hard...

...and within a few seconds of that, every one of the prisoners died.

There were no death agonies, no gasps or effusions of blood, no stab wounds by the householders - they simply sagged in place all at once. When Lords Argus and Shashenka looked into their faces, there was not the tiniest spark of life left to save.
Last edited by Alberich on June 3rd, 2012, 11:09 am, edited 7 times in total.
Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Alberich »

Meanwhile, the married ladies, led by Rose and Marfa, had made their way to the courtyard on one side of the feasting hall. The others were keeping their whispers quiet, but Lillith could see they were still in extreme fear for what this all meant for their futures.

Rose -- with the heightened situational awareness that marked her professional training -- also noticed Leonid Duravsky (Lord No-Nose, or whatever his friends might call him), unobtrusivly walking away towards the guest quarters, where Tatiana doubtless awaited him.

The feasting hall's doors were open and she could see it was full of angry men with weapons in hand - but they were talking, not fighting, now. Most of the distraught "kept women" had fled the hall and were now gathered outside, but well away from the wives - these particular kept women were not of a type the married ladies liked. Kirassia, with her usual imperturbability, was still inside, keeping her place a little behind Argus. (Only one of the assassins had come close to threatening her, and Eli had cut that one down.)
Last edited by Alberich on June 3rd, 2012, 10:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Graybeard
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Graybeard »

There wasn't much Sister Rose could do about the battle, to her frustration. She'd seen enough combat in Albigenish and elsewhere to have a pretty good sense of how horrible it was, let there be no doubt about that. She also knew that there were only two ways to make it less horrible: intervene to stop it, or intervene so your forces win the damn thing. It didn't look like she was going to do either here -- as a good leader should. Never mind that the Gorielians considered Argus the clan leader, and herself mere (if important) ornamentation: she knew otherwise.

There was one thing she could do, however. The Empathy spell was designed to be cast surreptitiously, without outward signs. The range was a bit extreme, but she brought it up and turned it on Leonid Duravsky.
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Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Alberich »

Rose easily cast the spell without being seen. A less seasoned operative would have cried aloud at the results. From the men inside, over to the right, was enough boiling hate, tortured frustration, and -- hidden below it -- agonizing fear to make a sensitive soul shut down. From the married ladies, over to the left, extreme, intense fear - Lillith had heard it, but Rose could now feel it. But her focus was to the front, over thataway, where no one else was looking. The knot of kept women were full of apprehension, not near so intense as what the wives were feeling. (But then, how much status did they have to lose?)

And past them: Leonid was an island of calm amidst all this emotion. Whatever had happened inside was, to belabor an old saw, "no skin off his nose." From his walk, he also appeared sober. Maybe he'd been the only sober man inside.
Last edited by Alberich on June 3rd, 2012, 11:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Eli looked at Tim's injury and his anger doubled. These incompetant humans!

'Easy Eli, burning down the hall would get you murdered or jailed, and you have a job to do, remember?'

Not Fucilious' voice, his own. The night was growing late and he had places to be. The half-elf didn't bother to try sneaking out, too many eyes were on him for that. He simply cast a disgusted look at the men around him and then stormed out as if he could no longer bear to be in their presense. No acting was required on his part for that.
Alberich
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Re: Goriel and beyond, part 2

Post by Alberich »

Even a blind man with an empathy spell could've tracked Eli's exit from the hall. Stabs of wounded pride tracked his course like the water cut by a shark's fin. And his own unmistakable flavor of hate and disgust stood out even in this company.
Last edited by Alberich on June 3rd, 2012, 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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