Past Tense - Arkadius Hogg - 05-05-2020
May 6, 2020 0:58:36 GMT
BB, Ian (Menace), and 2 more like this
Post by Deleted on May 6, 2020 0:58:36 GMT
This is a really, really long post.
Wouldn't it be better if it was a podcast?
Oh, wait! IT IS!
This is the story of the assassination of Girelle Veluss, Ambassador to K'ul Goran from Daring Heights.
Arkadius arrived into the portal square of Daring Heights, on foot for once having left the usual carriage in the city stables. He desired a walk, barely having time to enjoy the city streets over the last few months. On his arrival to the square, it was impossible not to notice Sheryl atop an eight-foot winged unicorn. Arkadius was not too fussed about this, but was certainly now jealous that Sheryl was finally lording her heighted position over him, as he had done to her many times before. He was amused at their play argument, telling her to come back down to his level, and to get off her infernal horse. In reaction to this, he heard Sheryl tell the unicorn off, saying "No, you are not allowed to side-kick Arkadius, he's my friend!". Sheryl promptly remembered something, slid off her new unicorn, and came over to hug him, and to hand him a yellow, orange, red shimmering bottle, saying, "This is our special brand of Fire Whiskey – Faerie Fireball. It has a delicious cinnamon flavour and a touch of Fey magic," she winked as he took the bottle from her hands. "Thank you for your amazing gift, I shall enjoy it once we have dealt with our next bodyguard mission", Arkadius responded with a smile, returning her wink.
Others started to make their appearance in the square, including BB, who Arkadius had visited just a few days ago in New Hillborrow for combined birthday and Greengrass Celebrations, as well as Taz, Mace, and a blue tiefling he had never met before who was introduced as Serpentine. The adventurers-six all stepped through the portal, and stepped out into the oh-so-familiar chamber in K'ul Goran. They were led, as usual, to Girelle's quarters, who greeted the coterie briefly while preparing for the journey ahead of them, before again leading them to the outside. They were to leave immediately for Jarvenol, aboard the usual fast vehicle that features in K'ul Goran.
As we travel in the usual quick manner that these vehicles travel at, thanks to the close connection to the Plane of Air, Sheryl, being the ever-clever halfling that she is, asks Veluss for his permission for her to read his thoughts to confirm that he is who we think he is. Arkadius thinks back to his last visit, where he had to banish Veluss' imposter, nodding with approval at this plan... before remembering the eyepatch that he has since picked up, and gulped. He had learned that it would prevent the very magic Sheryl was about to cast from affecting him, and he knew she noticed this too, when she passed her gaze around the vehicle. As she did, he gave a nervous smile in her direction, hoping she would question no more. Thankfully, Sheryl was able to confirm Veluss' identify, after asking Girelle about the events of a few weeks ago. We notice that he's visibly shaken, having to remember such events, so Sheryl and myself play our harp and lyre respectively to help calm him down.
Once we arrived at Jarvenol, we made our way through the previously-ruined city. It's obvious that certain paths have been far-more worked on than other others, as we notice some rubble-blocked side-streets, however the main path is fine. We're led towards what seems like a city square, with evidence of a market type arrangement being here previously. We all wonder where we're being led, as there's no way any of the buildings we've seen recovered so far come even close to hosting any kind of party or gala. In the square, we see a building that has been finely and tastefully decorated, with the crowd heading inside.
Once we step through the doors, an aerotaur gestures to the side, into a small room. We asks us to step inside, and we do so, expecting some kind of trap. It felt too obvious though, but we're all still tense. The aerotaur steps in with us, followed by an air genassi, and the door closes behind us. There's no other entrance, and mild panic sets into Arkadius' eyes, as he feels the room shifting slowly. The room fills with the sound of mechanical grinding and squealing, as his brain shifts over to Kundar, and the ogres pulling the lifts there. He leans on one of the walls as the air genassi smiles, and says "You're all new, I get that. Don't wry, this is one of the marvels we use to move us further down. The venue is... entirely underround. Hopefully someone will guide us to the main event, it's quite something." Everyone was a little unsettled at his words, but the journey downwards continued, the group as of yet unharmed.
The door opened, and they all stepped out into some antechamber at the head of a corridor, lined with paintings and statues galore. The group had to wait a moment however for the lift to reset and bring another group down, ably joined by the unicorn, taking up a not inconsiderable amount of space in the lift. Aradius considered options for a moment, before extending his mental link into his pocket, *Any kind of emergency exit from this place is likely going to require the use of this contraption. This might be a problem.*
*It might be. But worry not, Arkadius. It might all be fine yet, we have no cause for concern yet,* was Ida's simple response. *If you genuinely think there might be a problem, I will stay with the Ambassador in his pocket, like I do for you, and you can push your magic through me to help.*
He nodded to himself, and stepped forward into the plush corridor with everyone else. It was lined with deep-velvet-red carpet, with tiled walls stretching into the darkness above us, Arkadius estimated that it much go up at least 12 to 15 feet. Paintings and statues lined the corridor, the paintings being particularly interesting as they appeared to almost be lifelike and real as they walked passed them, but a closer inspection revealed them to be entirely flat, the effect being artistic and aesthetic in nature.
Arkadius heard Menace talking to the Ambassador, taking particular note of the line of questioning, "Is this part of the Cathedral of the Vanguard?" From previous exploration, Arkadius knew that the cathedral was a way away, and the response from the Ambassador confirmed this, saying "I don't believe so, it's further to the north. But there may be a connection, depending on how much further this leads."
The group continued walking, quickly realising that everything in the corridors seemed to all fit a particular theme: it was all confusing, misleading, weird. The paintings, the corridors themselves, everything was mind-bending, as if specifically built to be maze-like, like the cities themselves. Even by local standards, the corridors were extremely maze-like, the architecture designed to throw off event a particularly perceptive person's sense of scale. Arkadius made a mental note to hone in on his perception when he was able to practice next.
Taz took the time to mention that a lot of the groups around them, heading through the corridors, were all joined by bodyguards. Not the massive group of six like we were, no Girelle is highly important in that regard, but one or two at most. The group were going up and down stairs as they were led towards their goal, and thankfully BB had taken it upon herself to try and remember their path.
Eventually, we arrived at a great antechamber, a large well-decorated hall with many, many people already gathered. Torches and candelabras found themselves strategically placed around the room to give a nice ambient glow, replacing that of the sun far above them, unable to break through the earth to find this place. Tables were dotted around the room, and there was a grand empty space in the middle between the tables, space for mingling and dancing. There was a band somewhere, playing spring-y type music, with a bounce to it but giving the impression that if one were to dance to it, it would be politely.
Naturally, many of the guests in the room were different to the coterie keeping close watch on Girelle. The room was filled with K'ul Goran's natural inhabitants, air genassi, minotaurs and aerotaurs. Whenever the group wander past someone, they're taken aback at the strange beings, however quickly work them out to be Girelle's security, and relax. In the distance, a well-dressed minotaur was seen working the croud, one who Arkadius and Mace recognised to be one Gianna Madhand, the Mayor of Jarvenol. She is wearing a draped purple toga, and her horns were especially well-polished for the occasion. She was working the crowd well, taking an interest in everyone and anyone, showing her charisma.
Arkadius takes a moment to proffer Ida to Girelle, advising him of the wonders that she can do if she were to stay in his pocket. Girelle accepted, and Arkadius bid him farewell for now. "If I am needed, I will be here in but a second, trust me," he says, his wings fluttering, taking him to the space in the room that only air genassi were inhabiting when they needed a private space for conversation away from the floor space. A few even levitated over to Arkadius, striking up small talk. The second question tended to be "what are you?", and Arkadius appreciated them asking the question second, and not opening the conversation with it. One took the time to explan that they'd not met a tiefling with wings before. There was even the odd rafter up in the space for Arkadius to rest on to regain his energy.
Arkadius was keeping as close to the Ambassador as he could, taking particular note of one conversation after he heard mention of Kassandra. Raksus, the Commander of the Errant Guard, made particular note of the loss of Torven, and the disappearance of Kassandra.
*D'arvit,* he swore in his head, *That means more than likely my letter hasn't been read. I'll have to arrange a meeting with this Raksus instead, maybe I can offer to find Kassandra?*
*Concentrate on here and now, Arkadius,* came Ida's stern response, as a woman was picking her way through the crowd intently towards Girelle. This was obviously a concern, and the coterie converged in the area around, waiting for trouble. The woman introduced herself as a representative of the Mayor of Jarvenol, “The Mayor gives her apologies, that she has been unable to give the welcome that she had intended to give you,” she explained. The Ambassador was quick to respond, “I do understand that being the host of a party is the worst, you never get to say what you want.”
The small talk led to the woman offering Girelle a gift, in the form of a box. “We are aware of all of your work for K’ul Goran, and would like to... offer a token of our appreciation.”
Mace quickly stepped in however, ever being the charmer and tactical superstar, persuaded the woman into giving him the box with charming words. “The ambassador should not be seen carrying his own luggage at such an event!”, he exclaimed, taking the box into his hands. As he did, some kind of ring attached itself to his finger,
Arkadius couldn’t quite see from this angle, however he would later see the ring to be platinum and bearing the crest of Jarvenol itself.
As this happened, the woman had taken a step back, and was admiring Menace. “Well, I see we get to play a slightly different game today, Ambassador,” she said, turning to face him. “Rest assured, you will die second.” On ending the sentence, her entire body was seemingly sucked into the torchlight enveloping her. This prompted Arkadius to land harshly near the group, prodding them with the question “...So, What was all that?”
Girelle took charge of the conversation immediately, turning to Menace. “Well, this is exactly why I hired you. Mace, thank you for taking the ring. We don’t know what the game is here, and something is wrong. There’s an assassin here, should we leave?”
The group considered their options. “I would advise so”, was Menance’s contribution, followed by Taz stating simply, “Yes”. Sheryl asked, “You’ve done your rounds, right? So it wouldn’t be awkward if you left?”
Girelle sighed for a moment, before replying, “My disappearance would be noted, but my only concern is safety in numbers. At the same time, might the point of this be to scare us into leaving?”. BB piped up with an intelligent point at this point, reminding the group that the maze they entered through would be prime ambush placement. This was’t too fazing however, as the group decided to make their way back the way they came. As they made to leave, the crowd had uniformly turned it’s attention to the stage where Gianna Madhand was making a speech of usual political nonsense involving rejuvenation and restoration and the great future of K’ul Goran.
However, the final sentence of the speech was of particular note, “And you all here, the elite influences and incredible people, have no part in that future.”
Simultaneous, there was a flurry of activity on stage and around the room as the Mayor and many guards in the room all drew masks of bright red, and placed them on their faces. Arkadius groaned, recognising these masks all too well as four huge beings stepped through tapestries on the walls, four green humanoid dragon beings. He did not recognise these, however knew them to be no good, especially if the Vanguard were summoning them. He also internally realised he didn’t have the power to banish all four. Girelle knew this too, prompting them with the statement “Perhaps this is our cue to leave?”
The group nodded in unison, Menace preparing for the tactical retreat by covering the area in Darkness. Just before it struck, Arkadius flew upwards, taking one final look back into the room, watching two of the beings step forward and exclaiming at the beings in front of them with a low, infernal rumbling, “Kneel, and drop your weapons”. He turned back to his group, and followed them quickly in the air.
As the group proceed down the corridor leading to the hall, a torch further down flared with light as the form of the woman reappeared, blocking the path. “Whoever you are,” called her voice, “its time for the games to begin. The rules are simple, me and you are invincible,” she exclaimed, pointing a ring-bearing finger at Mace, the ring on her finger matching the one now attached to his finger. “It was meant for the Ambassador, but now only me and you can harm each other.” The being dropped the illusion spell hiding her true appearance, as now a tall, pale-faced woman remained in the spot, bright crimson red wings stretched behind her, full-plate armour protecting the rest of her body. “To prove my point…” she explained, as she drew her bow and shot an arrow at Mace.
Arkadius swooped down to be within earshot of his friends, the group to say “While this is going on, perhaps we should take the opportunity to get Girelle out of here?”, prompting BB to cast Greater Invisibility on Girelle and Mace. She unfurled with a speech aimed at the being, but Arkadius wasn’t really listening, only picking up on one key word, “Banishment”. He remembered this being something they’d had to deal with before, and he knew his next act. He again swooped past the being, who had introduced herself as Tessera, and smiled at her. “I hope you enjoy your banishment,” he said coldly, flying past her, a single finger brushing her armour. This was met with a cold smile back at him, as she shouted at him “These rings would suck if they allowed you to just teleport away, wouldn’t they?” This remark visibly annoyed and upset Arkadius as he flew onwards. “I’ll be hunting you all for as long as you live,” came her further response.
The group spent time making their way back upwards towards the lift, Arkadius darting along the infrequent rafters above, the group noting that the path ahead was becoming more and more dangerous, as fires had been set to block their path. Menace had cast Phantasmal Force at Tessera to give her a disadvantage with following the group, but she had caught up quickly in time anyway. Sheryl was casting magic to put out as many of the flames as possible, as Tessera was seemingly using these to follow us, and BB had started freaking out about the situation. The darkness was stifling, but eventually the group faced a new problem. How to get the lift to work?
Menace fiddled with the internal components as Serpentine took herself and BB back upwards via Dimension door. Girelle was leaning on the wall, “She isn’t going to stop until we resolve this. Do you have a plan? She isn’t going to stop till Mace and I are dead.” Sheryl replies quickly, “I have a plan, but it’ll work better upstairs. Arkadius, do you have anything that might help if I cast Greater Restoration on Mace?”
He nods quickly, “I can probably remove Mace’s connection with the ring, assuming it’s cursed. Also, if something happens to Girelle… Ida has him, got it?” Girelle would feel Ida patting him, just to remind him she was there in his pocket.
The remaining few in the lift barely squeezed in as Menace found the right switch, and sent them upwards. The lift makes it’s way to the top, and the doors open. The group are reunited with Serpentine and BB, patrolling the upper walkway… as well as Tessera, who says “Thank you for the run,” before promptly running at Menace. He strikes with his crossbow, her wings unfurled to fly towards him with her vicious looking long sword. He falls, but as she passes Arkadius steps forwards, the plan falling apart somewhat with Sheryl having to reprioritise, and casts Remove Curse. This evidently alarms Tessera, the ring falling from her finger as she watches, then looking up at Arkadius, then down at the ring again. However, Girelle was trying to be clever and sneak away at this point, taking the utmost worst path possible right past them both… Taz acted swiftly, and had Tessera in a grapple-lock, but couldn’t quite manoeuvre it so that they were out of reach of Girelle, and Tessera struck, throwing Girelle to the ground in three strikes of the sword with a gasp.
It would barely be a few moments however before Girelle would reawaken, coughing and gasping for breath. Ida poked out from underneath his jacket, bathed in magical light passing Arkadius’ healing magic through her to him. Taz pushes Tessera to the floor, hoping to get the advantage, but she manages to keep ahold of her bow, firing a few more bolts at Girelle. One misses, but the remaining two hit. More healing was needed, but the battle was swiftly won by the group, Tessera released through to whatever Hell they were released from for this devilish task.
Over the next day, in the aftermath of the events, the group would find out that there were no survivors from the hall. There were a handful of senators down there, as well as many other important people. There would be no news of Gianna Madhand, Jarvenol’s mayor, now revealed to be a Vanguard agent. This was the Vanguard’s most open, brazen and declarative statement. They’d made a huge statement through this attack, but they had failed to kill the Ambassador. The shockwaves would still be felt, K’ul Goran now cannot deny the existence of the Vanguard. Arkadius had a new mission, a new renewed focus. The Errant Guard. He needed to find Kassandra, he wanted to join the Errant Guard elite. He wanted to fight. He wanted to protect K’ul Goran. And most importantly...
This was the story... of the thwarted and unsuccessful assassination of Ambassador Girelle Veluss.
Wouldn't it be better if it was a podcast?
Oh, wait! IT IS!
This is the story of the assassination of Girelle Veluss, Ambassador to K'ul Goran from Daring Heights.
Arkadius arrived into the portal square of Daring Heights, on foot for once having left the usual carriage in the city stables. He desired a walk, barely having time to enjoy the city streets over the last few months. On his arrival to the square, it was impossible not to notice Sheryl atop an eight-foot winged unicorn. Arkadius was not too fussed about this, but was certainly now jealous that Sheryl was finally lording her heighted position over him, as he had done to her many times before. He was amused at their play argument, telling her to come back down to his level, and to get off her infernal horse. In reaction to this, he heard Sheryl tell the unicorn off, saying "No, you are not allowed to side-kick Arkadius, he's my friend!". Sheryl promptly remembered something, slid off her new unicorn, and came over to hug him, and to hand him a yellow, orange, red shimmering bottle, saying, "This is our special brand of Fire Whiskey – Faerie Fireball. It has a delicious cinnamon flavour and a touch of Fey magic," she winked as he took the bottle from her hands. "Thank you for your amazing gift, I shall enjoy it once we have dealt with our next bodyguard mission", Arkadius responded with a smile, returning her wink.
Others started to make their appearance in the square, including BB, who Arkadius had visited just a few days ago in New Hillborrow for combined birthday and Greengrass Celebrations, as well as Taz, Mace, and a blue tiefling he had never met before who was introduced as Serpentine. The adventurers-six all stepped through the portal, and stepped out into the oh-so-familiar chamber in K'ul Goran. They were led, as usual, to Girelle's quarters, who greeted the coterie briefly while preparing for the journey ahead of them, before again leading them to the outside. They were to leave immediately for Jarvenol, aboard the usual fast vehicle that features in K'ul Goran.
As we travel in the usual quick manner that these vehicles travel at, thanks to the close connection to the Plane of Air, Sheryl, being the ever-clever halfling that she is, asks Veluss for his permission for her to read his thoughts to confirm that he is who we think he is. Arkadius thinks back to his last visit, where he had to banish Veluss' imposter, nodding with approval at this plan... before remembering the eyepatch that he has since picked up, and gulped. He had learned that it would prevent the very magic Sheryl was about to cast from affecting him, and he knew she noticed this too, when she passed her gaze around the vehicle. As she did, he gave a nervous smile in her direction, hoping she would question no more. Thankfully, Sheryl was able to confirm Veluss' identify, after asking Girelle about the events of a few weeks ago. We notice that he's visibly shaken, having to remember such events, so Sheryl and myself play our harp and lyre respectively to help calm him down.
Once we arrived at Jarvenol, we made our way through the previously-ruined city. It's obvious that certain paths have been far-more worked on than other others, as we notice some rubble-blocked side-streets, however the main path is fine. We're led towards what seems like a city square, with evidence of a market type arrangement being here previously. We all wonder where we're being led, as there's no way any of the buildings we've seen recovered so far come even close to hosting any kind of party or gala. In the square, we see a building that has been finely and tastefully decorated, with the crowd heading inside.
Once we step through the doors, an aerotaur gestures to the side, into a small room. We asks us to step inside, and we do so, expecting some kind of trap. It felt too obvious though, but we're all still tense. The aerotaur steps in with us, followed by an air genassi, and the door closes behind us. There's no other entrance, and mild panic sets into Arkadius' eyes, as he feels the room shifting slowly. The room fills with the sound of mechanical grinding and squealing, as his brain shifts over to Kundar, and the ogres pulling the lifts there. He leans on one of the walls as the air genassi smiles, and says "You're all new, I get that. Don't wry, this is one of the marvels we use to move us further down. The venue is... entirely underround. Hopefully someone will guide us to the main event, it's quite something." Everyone was a little unsettled at his words, but the journey downwards continued, the group as of yet unharmed.
The door opened, and they all stepped out into some antechamber at the head of a corridor, lined with paintings and statues galore. The group had to wait a moment however for the lift to reset and bring another group down, ably joined by the unicorn, taking up a not inconsiderable amount of space in the lift. Aradius considered options for a moment, before extending his mental link into his pocket, *Any kind of emergency exit from this place is likely going to require the use of this contraption. This might be a problem.*
*It might be. But worry not, Arkadius. It might all be fine yet, we have no cause for concern yet,* was Ida's simple response. *If you genuinely think there might be a problem, I will stay with the Ambassador in his pocket, like I do for you, and you can push your magic through me to help.*
He nodded to himself, and stepped forward into the plush corridor with everyone else. It was lined with deep-velvet-red carpet, with tiled walls stretching into the darkness above us, Arkadius estimated that it much go up at least 12 to 15 feet. Paintings and statues lined the corridor, the paintings being particularly interesting as they appeared to almost be lifelike and real as they walked passed them, but a closer inspection revealed them to be entirely flat, the effect being artistic and aesthetic in nature.
Arkadius heard Menace talking to the Ambassador, taking particular note of the line of questioning, "Is this part of the Cathedral of the Vanguard?" From previous exploration, Arkadius knew that the cathedral was a way away, and the response from the Ambassador confirmed this, saying "I don't believe so, it's further to the north. But there may be a connection, depending on how much further this leads."
The group continued walking, quickly realising that everything in the corridors seemed to all fit a particular theme: it was all confusing, misleading, weird. The paintings, the corridors themselves, everything was mind-bending, as if specifically built to be maze-like, like the cities themselves. Even by local standards, the corridors were extremely maze-like, the architecture designed to throw off event a particularly perceptive person's sense of scale. Arkadius made a mental note to hone in on his perception when he was able to practice next.
Taz took the time to mention that a lot of the groups around them, heading through the corridors, were all joined by bodyguards. Not the massive group of six like we were, no Girelle is highly important in that regard, but one or two at most. The group were going up and down stairs as they were led towards their goal, and thankfully BB had taken it upon herself to try and remember their path.
Eventually, we arrived at a great antechamber, a large well-decorated hall with many, many people already gathered. Torches and candelabras found themselves strategically placed around the room to give a nice ambient glow, replacing that of the sun far above them, unable to break through the earth to find this place. Tables were dotted around the room, and there was a grand empty space in the middle between the tables, space for mingling and dancing. There was a band somewhere, playing spring-y type music, with a bounce to it but giving the impression that if one were to dance to it, it would be politely.
Naturally, many of the guests in the room were different to the coterie keeping close watch on Girelle. The room was filled with K'ul Goran's natural inhabitants, air genassi, minotaurs and aerotaurs. Whenever the group wander past someone, they're taken aback at the strange beings, however quickly work them out to be Girelle's security, and relax. In the distance, a well-dressed minotaur was seen working the croud, one who Arkadius and Mace recognised to be one Gianna Madhand, the Mayor of Jarvenol. She is wearing a draped purple toga, and her horns were especially well-polished for the occasion. She was working the crowd well, taking an interest in everyone and anyone, showing her charisma.
Arkadius takes a moment to proffer Ida to Girelle, advising him of the wonders that she can do if she were to stay in his pocket. Girelle accepted, and Arkadius bid him farewell for now. "If I am needed, I will be here in but a second, trust me," he says, his wings fluttering, taking him to the space in the room that only air genassi were inhabiting when they needed a private space for conversation away from the floor space. A few even levitated over to Arkadius, striking up small talk. The second question tended to be "what are you?", and Arkadius appreciated them asking the question second, and not opening the conversation with it. One took the time to explan that they'd not met a tiefling with wings before. There was even the odd rafter up in the space for Arkadius to rest on to regain his energy.
Arkadius was keeping as close to the Ambassador as he could, taking particular note of one conversation after he heard mention of Kassandra. Raksus, the Commander of the Errant Guard, made particular note of the loss of Torven, and the disappearance of Kassandra.
*D'arvit,* he swore in his head, *That means more than likely my letter hasn't been read. I'll have to arrange a meeting with this Raksus instead, maybe I can offer to find Kassandra?*
*Concentrate on here and now, Arkadius,* came Ida's stern response, as a woman was picking her way through the crowd intently towards Girelle. This was obviously a concern, and the coterie converged in the area around, waiting for trouble. The woman introduced herself as a representative of the Mayor of Jarvenol, “The Mayor gives her apologies, that she has been unable to give the welcome that she had intended to give you,” she explained. The Ambassador was quick to respond, “I do understand that being the host of a party is the worst, you never get to say what you want.”
The small talk led to the woman offering Girelle a gift, in the form of a box. “We are aware of all of your work for K’ul Goran, and would like to... offer a token of our appreciation.”
Mace quickly stepped in however, ever being the charmer and tactical superstar, persuaded the woman into giving him the box with charming words. “The ambassador should not be seen carrying his own luggage at such an event!”, he exclaimed, taking the box into his hands. As he did, some kind of ring attached itself to his finger,
Arkadius couldn’t quite see from this angle, however he would later see the ring to be platinum and bearing the crest of Jarvenol itself.
As this happened, the woman had taken a step back, and was admiring Menace. “Well, I see we get to play a slightly different game today, Ambassador,” she said, turning to face him. “Rest assured, you will die second.” On ending the sentence, her entire body was seemingly sucked into the torchlight enveloping her. This prompted Arkadius to land harshly near the group, prodding them with the question “...So, What was all that?”
Girelle took charge of the conversation immediately, turning to Menace. “Well, this is exactly why I hired you. Mace, thank you for taking the ring. We don’t know what the game is here, and something is wrong. There’s an assassin here, should we leave?”
The group considered their options. “I would advise so”, was Menance’s contribution, followed by Taz stating simply, “Yes”. Sheryl asked, “You’ve done your rounds, right? So it wouldn’t be awkward if you left?”
Girelle sighed for a moment, before replying, “My disappearance would be noted, but my only concern is safety in numbers. At the same time, might the point of this be to scare us into leaving?”. BB piped up with an intelligent point at this point, reminding the group that the maze they entered through would be prime ambush placement. This was’t too fazing however, as the group decided to make their way back the way they came. As they made to leave, the crowd had uniformly turned it’s attention to the stage where Gianna Madhand was making a speech of usual political nonsense involving rejuvenation and restoration and the great future of K’ul Goran.
However, the final sentence of the speech was of particular note, “And you all here, the elite influences and incredible people, have no part in that future.”
Simultaneous, there was a flurry of activity on stage and around the room as the Mayor and many guards in the room all drew masks of bright red, and placed them on their faces. Arkadius groaned, recognising these masks all too well as four huge beings stepped through tapestries on the walls, four green humanoid dragon beings. He did not recognise these, however knew them to be no good, especially if the Vanguard were summoning them. He also internally realised he didn’t have the power to banish all four. Girelle knew this too, prompting them with the statement “Perhaps this is our cue to leave?”
The group nodded in unison, Menace preparing for the tactical retreat by covering the area in Darkness. Just before it struck, Arkadius flew upwards, taking one final look back into the room, watching two of the beings step forward and exclaiming at the beings in front of them with a low, infernal rumbling, “Kneel, and drop your weapons”. He turned back to his group, and followed them quickly in the air.
As the group proceed down the corridor leading to the hall, a torch further down flared with light as the form of the woman reappeared, blocking the path. “Whoever you are,” called her voice, “its time for the games to begin. The rules are simple, me and you are invincible,” she exclaimed, pointing a ring-bearing finger at Mace, the ring on her finger matching the one now attached to his finger. “It was meant for the Ambassador, but now only me and you can harm each other.” The being dropped the illusion spell hiding her true appearance, as now a tall, pale-faced woman remained in the spot, bright crimson red wings stretched behind her, full-plate armour protecting the rest of her body. “To prove my point…” she explained, as she drew her bow and shot an arrow at Mace.
Arkadius swooped down to be within earshot of his friends, the group to say “While this is going on, perhaps we should take the opportunity to get Girelle out of here?”, prompting BB to cast Greater Invisibility on Girelle and Mace. She unfurled with a speech aimed at the being, but Arkadius wasn’t really listening, only picking up on one key word, “Banishment”. He remembered this being something they’d had to deal with before, and he knew his next act. He again swooped past the being, who had introduced herself as Tessera, and smiled at her. “I hope you enjoy your banishment,” he said coldly, flying past her, a single finger brushing her armour. This was met with a cold smile back at him, as she shouted at him “These rings would suck if they allowed you to just teleport away, wouldn’t they?” This remark visibly annoyed and upset Arkadius as he flew onwards. “I’ll be hunting you all for as long as you live,” came her further response.
The group spent time making their way back upwards towards the lift, Arkadius darting along the infrequent rafters above, the group noting that the path ahead was becoming more and more dangerous, as fires had been set to block their path. Menace had cast Phantasmal Force at Tessera to give her a disadvantage with following the group, but she had caught up quickly in time anyway. Sheryl was casting magic to put out as many of the flames as possible, as Tessera was seemingly using these to follow us, and BB had started freaking out about the situation. The darkness was stifling, but eventually the group faced a new problem. How to get the lift to work?
Menace fiddled with the internal components as Serpentine took herself and BB back upwards via Dimension door. Girelle was leaning on the wall, “She isn’t going to stop until we resolve this. Do you have a plan? She isn’t going to stop till Mace and I are dead.” Sheryl replies quickly, “I have a plan, but it’ll work better upstairs. Arkadius, do you have anything that might help if I cast Greater Restoration on Mace?”
He nods quickly, “I can probably remove Mace’s connection with the ring, assuming it’s cursed. Also, if something happens to Girelle… Ida has him, got it?” Girelle would feel Ida patting him, just to remind him she was there in his pocket.
The remaining few in the lift barely squeezed in as Menace found the right switch, and sent them upwards. The lift makes it’s way to the top, and the doors open. The group are reunited with Serpentine and BB, patrolling the upper walkway… as well as Tessera, who says “Thank you for the run,” before promptly running at Menace. He strikes with his crossbow, her wings unfurled to fly towards him with her vicious looking long sword. He falls, but as she passes Arkadius steps forwards, the plan falling apart somewhat with Sheryl having to reprioritise, and casts Remove Curse. This evidently alarms Tessera, the ring falling from her finger as she watches, then looking up at Arkadius, then down at the ring again. However, Girelle was trying to be clever and sneak away at this point, taking the utmost worst path possible right past them both… Taz acted swiftly, and had Tessera in a grapple-lock, but couldn’t quite manoeuvre it so that they were out of reach of Girelle, and Tessera struck, throwing Girelle to the ground in three strikes of the sword with a gasp.
It would barely be a few moments however before Girelle would reawaken, coughing and gasping for breath. Ida poked out from underneath his jacket, bathed in magical light passing Arkadius’ healing magic through her to him. Taz pushes Tessera to the floor, hoping to get the advantage, but she manages to keep ahold of her bow, firing a few more bolts at Girelle. One misses, but the remaining two hit. More healing was needed, but the battle was swiftly won by the group, Tessera released through to whatever Hell they were released from for this devilish task.
Over the next day, in the aftermath of the events, the group would find out that there were no survivors from the hall. There were a handful of senators down there, as well as many other important people. There would be no news of Gianna Madhand, Jarvenol’s mayor, now revealed to be a Vanguard agent. This was the Vanguard’s most open, brazen and declarative statement. They’d made a huge statement through this attack, but they had failed to kill the Ambassador. The shockwaves would still be felt, K’ul Goran now cannot deny the existence of the Vanguard. Arkadius had a new mission, a new renewed focus. The Errant Guard. He needed to find Kassandra, he wanted to join the Errant Guard elite. He wanted to fight. He wanted to protect K’ul Goran. And most importantly...
This was the story... of the thwarted and unsuccessful assassination of Ambassador Girelle Veluss.
