Special Event: A Scarlet Wedding V
You blink slowly, then you plaster a smile on your face. Asya is just a few yards behind you, all you have to do is keep him in the dark until then. "Charmed to meet you ." You bow slightly, "Alina tells me you've been quite interested in me." You see his eyes narrow, or at least you think you do because the tension in his brow disappears.
"Your highness, someone-" He shoots a glare at Alina, who blushes, "neglected to inform me I would be meeting you tonight. So forgive me for not presenting you with something befitting your status."
"No worries, it was quite a surprise to me as well to learn I had a suitor, but I am happy at least it is a handsome one." That's it Illona, keep it up.
He gives a small laugh, you do note he has a nice laugh, too bad it is attached to such a thoroughly despicable man. "Your flattery is noted your highness, but I assure you, none can compare to a rose such as you." The ease with which he says that, and the warm twinkle in his eye makes you doubt, just for a second, that this is actually the assassin. You let your guard down just a hair too much, and when he takes a step forward you are slightly too slow in backing up.
What happens next is a blur, his hand strikes out and yanks on your arm, throwing you off balance. Something glints in his other hand, and you notice the crutch is gone. The world seems to slow as you frantically twist your lower torso instinctively. But it's not enough, and you feel a sharp pain on the side of you abdomen. With a chill you realize it's a knife, it was a knife the whole time. You brace yourself for him to drive it home, off balance as you are there's little you can do to prevent it.
But then out of the corner of your eye, a blur even for your eyesight, something slams into the man in front of you. You hear a tremendous crack as the grip on your arm yanks you even further forward. The knife however spins away, and as the grip lessens you manage to turn the fall into a roll. Shakily you pull yourself up and fell your side, you hand comes away covered in blood, but the wound feels shallow, a mere cut, rather than something more. You look around to see Asya crouched on the ground in front of you, and the Assassin crumpled against the terrace wall, the stones behind him shattered by the force of his impact.
You get to your feet, wincing from the pain in your side. That's going to be a bit annoying to fight with you. "Are you alright?" Asya asks, still keeping an eye on the limp form of the assassin.
"Yeah" You huff, "Bastard stabbed me, well...tried to at least."
"Next time, just jump him." A weak groan interrupts the both of you, and you see Hans shift slightly and shakily get to his feet. Shards of stone and dust swirling as he tries to stand, but Asya is already on top of him. Her leg blurs downward and he is slammed into the floor. You hear another snap and a groan. He tries to rise again, but Asya just plants her boot on his neck. You spot the knife lying discarded on the ground and swiftly grab. Though as you do so you spot on of the assassin's hand worming under his body.
You shout a warning but it is already too late. An explosion sends Asya skidding backwards, though she manages to keep her balance. The dust quickly clears to reveal Hans standing upright, one hand pressed against his upper neck. Though you notice his other arm hangs limp by his side, and he's favoring his left leg. He spits blood and looks at Asya. "So we meet again Aljann. Should have known the princess would not be without her bitch."
"I did tell you, you would need to go through me to get to her, did I not?" You hear a mocking tone in Asya's vote, "Though it seems you are having some trouble with that."
"I beat you once before Aljann, I will do so again." He sounds confident, but you notice his eyes darting back and forth. "Then once I've killed you, it will a trifle matter to murder the other."
Rather than continue to banter, Asya lunges forward, and Hans is immediately on the backfoot. Forced to defend his weak leg with only one arm. He puts up a good fight, but Asya thoroughly dominates him. The finale comes when her hand lashes out and you see a small glinting object fly away. The amulet is gone, and Hans screams. You see bruises blossom across his face and blood begins leaking from his mouth. He stumbles backwards, fighting to keep his balance as his leg is twisted at an odd angle.
You try and light him on fire, but it just fizzles, "Asya!" you yell, "He still has something that's cancelling the magic!" Asya nods and suddenly she's clutching Hans by the throat. She lifts him up and slams him into the ground. You make it over to see her pulling away the robes to reveal two more amulets which she unceremoniously snaps off.
You twitch your fingers, and this time it works, a small flame glistens on his shirt. Then you freeze his feet to the ground, "That should hold him." But a wet cough interrupts you. Hans gives you a blood-soaked smile.
"D-don't be so sure, monster." He spits blood to the side, and you note the robes over his chest darkening with blood. "I will be free in d-death. And w-with it, your tyranny will burn." Though his face is rapidly paling you note fire in his eyes.
However, you give him a cold smile. "I'm afraid you won't escape that easily. Asya?" She hands you one of the amulets, the first one. When you place it around his neck the effect is immediate, the bruises on his face fade and he takes a choking gasp. "Death is too kind for you Assassin." His only answer is to spit in your face.
You wipe it away with a grimace, "Watch him." Asya nods and you turn to Alina who is currently gaping at you wide-eyed. You wince and rub your side, you'll probably need to get that looked at...preferably soon, but right now you're too busy. "You alright Alina?"
She looks rapidly between you and the prone form of Hans, before exploding, "What the hell was that."
"He was an assassin." You say blandly as you tear a strip of your dress off to tie around your waist "You should probably get the guards."
Just then a pair of Flame Guard burst out onto the terrace, "Is everyone alright, we heard scre-M'lady!"
You wave them off, "Speaking of guards, you two are late. We caught the assassin, he's over there. And I'm fine."
The two men glance at one another, "That's well and good M'Lady but you are injured, We have specific orders from the Queen not to let any harm befall you."
You shake your head, "No, I have something I need to do. But Alina and Asya here should be able to fill you in on what happened. I'll be fine...I just need to talk to my sister."
"What?! No. Illona, you're bleeding out."
You scoff, "I appreciate the concern Alina, but I'll be fine." You really hope you'll be fine, "But now I have to go stop my sister from doing something really stupid."
"Wha-" Alina tries to ask, but you cut her off.
"I'll tell you later." You turn to the two guards, "You two, don't let him leave. Or die, both of those would be very bad."
Not waiting for an answer, you push past the two of them and start heading back into the palace. You're pretty sure you frightened several servants half to death, and certainly you wished you were making this trek in better condition. But somethings are unavoidable, and this is one of those things. Or at least you hope it is, if it turned out you didn't need to do any of this you'd feel dreadfully silly...or maybe dead, but you hope you just feel silly.
The two guards outside your sister's chambers jump slightly when they see you. "M'lady what happened?"
"The assassin happened, fortunately, it's been taken care of." You glance at the door, "May I be allowed to see my sister. I'm afraid it is really quite urgent."
The one on the right, whose white stylings mark him as an officer, hesitates "M'lady, I'm afraid we're not supposed to let anyone into the Queen's chambers before the ceremony." The one on the right nods, "Yes, it has been decided with an assassin about, visitors are too dangerous. "
You roll your eyes, "What do you think I'm going to do? Strangle her while I'm injured. The assassin has been dealt with anyway."
"M'lady, we only have your word for that. It is not that we suspect you, but orders are orders."
You sigh, "Fine, but can I at least speak to her out here? No need for me to go inside."
The two of them glance at each others, "I...suppose that would be alright."
You once again find yourself standing outside the door to Elita's chambers, late at night. Though this time it's for something a bit more important than just some sisterly bonding. Hesitantly you knock, and you once again hear the shuffling, then the click of the various locks. Though this time it seems much more frantic. The door flies open and you see Elita. "Illona!" she practically screeches, "What happened?! Are you okay?!"
You look down and you realize you didn't change out of your dress. Your dress that is covered in dirt and blood...a lot of it yours. "Oh...uh...I'm fine don't worry."
"Fine?! Illona you're covered in blood!"
"Oh...yeah. Well, only some of it is mine. Had a bit of a run in with our assassin." Elita goes to say something but you cut her off, "No, it's fine, me and Asya handled it. Caught him alive. But that's not important."
"Not important." Elita's voice is flat, "You almost got killed by an assassin and that's 'not important'."
You hold up your hand, "One, it's a small cut, not "almost killed", Two, he's been taken care of, Asya's guarding him now and Three, what's really important is that thing you have planned for the wedding." Elita's eyes widened, "Yes, that one."
She grabs your arm and drags you into the room. "Get in here." When the to guards start she shouts "Yes, she can come in." before slamming the door and locking it.
You wince, "Ow. I said it was a small cut, but it still hurts. You could have been more gentle."
"How did you find out about that?!" She yells. At full volume. Right in your ears.
When you're done recovering from your newly-shattered eardrums you wince again. "By the flame Sis, I'm right here."
"How did you find out?" She hisses.
You walk further into the chambers and marvel at the sheer scale of them, "Oh, Asya overheard you."
"And why, might I ask, was she following me closely enough to hear me talking about...that?"
You groan softly as you lower yourself down onto one of the many seating areas around the chambers. "I don't know, she was practicing her wall-climbing skills near where you happened to be?" Elita narrows her eyes at you, silence reigns between the two of you, before you finally get too uncomfortable. "Fine, I asked her to follow you. But it was too protect you, I swear."
Elita sighs, "Illona, we are going to need to have a long talk about boundaries. But...I suppose I should have told you sooner." There's a pause as you both look at the blood currently dripping down onto the sofa you are sitting on. "That's it...I'm calling a doctor for you." She peaks her head outside the door and says something muffled to the guard outside. "Now...what did you want to talk about?"
You sigh, "Well, mostly I'm worried you're wrong."
"What."
"Well, from what I hear, you're planning on arresting the entirety of House Landric. But, from what I've managed to discover, it seems like just the Streylitz branch are to blame." You stop. "Oh, and the assassin was the heir-presumptive of House Streylitz by the way."
Elita collapses onto the edge of her bed across the room from you. "Oh my god...you didn't kill him did you?"
"What?! No! Of course not!"
She breathes a sigh of relief, "Oh thank the Flame. That would have been...bad" But then you see her expression harden. "Though after what he did to you by the time I'm done with him he'll probably wish he died."
"Elita, I'm fine really, it's just a flesh wound. What I'm worried about is you, I mean, I wouldn't really know what to do in your shoes but just arresting everyone including your fiance seems a tad...drastic."
She heaves a heavy sigh, "How did everything get this complex. All I wanted to do was secure my reign and draw out the assassin group. Now my sister is dying and the assassins were the most powerful house in the entire kingdom."
"Elita, One, I'm not dying and Two, I'm pretty sure it was only part of the most powerful house in the realm. The part you aren't marrying." You try and put a bit of cheer into your voice, "But wait back up, this entire wedding was one big trap? And you didn't tell me."
Elita at least has the presence of mind to look guilty, "Yes, I'm sorry about that but...I couldn't risk you giving it away. Not that it matters now I suppose. Your bodyguard killed most of them from what I've gathered. If you're mad at me, I'll accept that?"
You snort, "No, I'm not mad." She blinks in surprise. "But...Asya is going to be furious when she finds out. Or more smug than you can possible imagine. So uh, don't let her find out." Elita for her part giggles a little at that, and you feel a bit better for lifting your sister's mood a bit. "But I do wish you had told me."
The two of your are interrupted by the doctor that Elita had called for arriving. He was a bit cross with you when you forced him to use the procedure Andeszj had cooked up for treating wounds after his examinations of various bodies rather than whatever he was going to do. But soon the wound on your side was cleaned and bandaged, and the doctor had departed. You and Elita could once again.
When the door shuts behind him, Elita turns to you. "Illona, what should I do?"
You blink in surprise, "Why are you asking me? I'm new to all of this."
She rolls her eyes, "Your my sister, and I trust you. Besides, you seem to be doing alright so far."
"I get very lucky sometimes." you laugh, "But this really should be your decision Elita."
"Oh, it certainly will be, and I have a few more things to do. But give me some sisterly advice will you?"
You sigh, you suppose now this means you have to actually make a decision on what you think is the best path. What do you recommend Elita do? She is not necessarily going to follow it, but it is likely she is going to give your words quite a bit of weight.
[ ] Arrest them all at the wedding.
[ ] Just take out the Streylitz members of House Landric (Don't tell Brice)
[ ] Just take out the Streylitz members of House Landric (Inform Brice before hand)
[ ] Don't arrest anyone at the wedding, wait until it's been secured.
[ ] Write-In (Think you have a better piece of advice? Feel free to share it).
The wedding is rapidly approaching, so you need to figure how you want to approach that as well.
Traditionally in Ahervare wedding the family of the bride and groom are kept separate. However, You are the only member of your side of the family here. Along with your guests of course. Do you:
[ ] Sit in your own section, all by yourself - Keeps tradition, but also may insult some members of the grooms family given the disparty in space alotted to each of you.
[ ] Sit in amongst the Landrics - Breaks tradition, but may foster better feelings among the groom's family.
Finally, you have several dresses you can possibly wear to the wedding.
[ ] The Red Dress: A brilliant red dress, the color of fire. Eminently regal and perfect for showing off your position in society as a Queen as well as your relationship with the bride. However it is impractically ornate and very cumbersome to wear.
[ ] The White Dress: A simple white dress. It is easy to move in and very comfortable, however it will do little to show off your status. Though the white is traditionally the color of...*ahem* eligibility.
[ ] The Armored Dress: You're not entirely sure how Asya managed to get this made, or how she even managed to get it here without you noticing. It is a dress that is armored. Rather impractical to wear, it however does offer some modicum of protection. And it certainly casts a=striking image, though one distinctly outside the norm here in Ahervare.
Illona gains trait. [Lightly Wounded]: -5 to combat skill. Disappears next turn.
Gain Amulet of ??? from Grandmaster of the Seven Knives (New Research Actions)
Gain Amulet of Nullification from Grandmaster of the Seven Knives (New Research Actions)
Grandmaster of the Seven Knives captured (Affects outcome of Scarlet Wedding)
A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this. The next update is the final one, and will be posted along with the Turn 6 Rumor Mill and Turn 7 Actions hopefully within the next couple of days.
