Fractions and Factions: The Coup - Keros - 06/06
Jun 12, 2023 15:22:19 GMT
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Jamie J, Jaezred Vandree, and 5 more like this
Post by Tom M on Jun 12, 2023 15:22:19 GMT
(Continued from Fractions & Factions: Crystal Calamity.)
Keros is still smiling at Rae when Jaezred asks him to tell his story, and then reality kicks back in.
“Well, Antonia made her move. Jarvenol got cut off. They grabbed a few of us to head over there — luckily I was drinking with Sorrel at the time. Have you met Sorrel? Damn good soldier.” He pauses to take a drink,
”Anyway… they grabbed their friend Sparks and we picked up a couple of new adventurers fresh off the boat, Walker and Rykan. We arrived at the war council and they told us that the 1st, 4th, and 6th were mobilised and en route, but everything was happening too fast and some kind of ritual was going on down in the old Vanguard Cathedral. We were to meet up with the Errant Guard and they'd make a distraction whilst we did whatever we had to do. I was… a little distracted in the meeting.”
He glances at Rae briefly before continuing.
“So we went over there and met up with Kassandra Farcleaver and an air genasi called Breezy who was leading the Errant Guard detachment. We really owe Kassandra one — gave us the chance to sneak into the labyrinth without a fight.” Keros pauses for another drink and his face darkens.
“Everyone else seemed lost down there and I know that not everyone gets labyrinths like we do, but I’ve never been there before and it felt… too familiar. I know our history. I just… hadn’t felt that pull before. It was unnerving. Made me feel like a weapon, a tool… not a person.”
Keros shakes it off. “So we got to the ritual room. A few thugs protecting robed figures on platforms, Kyra Stuurm at the centre. Some kind of magic thing going on with the platforms revolving round and barriers protecting them. Antonia Warborn was on the other side of the room, but she fled like a fucking coward.”
“Senator Kyra Stuurm, the Optimates leader?” Jaezred asks with a raised brow.
“Yes. Apparently a spellcaster of some kind? She was doing a ritual. So most of the others stayed put as they had a good defensive position and could fight the actual battle. Walker and I jumped onto the platforms and did our best to disrupt the ritual. They had reinforcements coming in trying to stop us including veterans from the 1st and… from the 6th. The legions are apparently split. One of my brothers… former brothers. Was there fighting us.”
“Oh, Keros.” Rae rests their head against Keros’s shoulder and holds his arm tightly with both of theirs.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “That was a bit rough.”
Jaezred doesn’t say anything. He purses his lips and signals to Dhauzith in Drow Sign Language to bring a pint of ale to the table.
“Anyway, magic isn’t my thing so I just sort of broke through the barriers, which hurt a lot. Whatever spell they were trying to cast made us want to stop fighting. Stuurm was saying something about wanting to ‘stop the war before it started’ like it was going to affect all of K’ul Goran, like she was going to make us comply. It looked like it was about to finish and I managed to force my way through into her final sort of… bubble? And impaled her on my horns. Which I don't like doing, but it was all I could do to make her stop. So yeah. Dead senator, Cathedral collapsed, we all got out. They gave us medals. And now civil war is inevitable. Thousands are going to die. Hard to see it as too much of a victory.”
He takes the pint of ale and drinks half of it in a single gulp.
Jaezred is silent as Keros finishes telling his tale, contemplating this turn of events and the consequences thereof. The minotaur warrior looks positively haunted by the experience; he’d clearly put it out of his mind whilst focussed on his new relationship with Rae until he was forced to reckon with it today.
Rae’s expression turns very concerned, and the magnitude of the situation seems overwhelming to them. “You did the right thing. A mass enchantment like that… It can result in nothing but further misery. It’s misuse of power and you were right to stop it.”
“Rae is correct. If it could make you want to put down your weapons, who knows what it could do to ordinary citizens?”
“I certainly don’t. Well, we’ll see if I made the right call over the coming months I’m sure.”
“No use in trying to go backwards, soldier. We can only march forward,” Jaezred says. “Was there anything else that stood out to you?”
Keros thinks for a while. “Those are the main bits. When I’m in a fight I get pretty… focussed. And if someone explained the ritual to me I probably wouldn’t get it — I’m not like you two. Antonia got away, but the Cathedral was destroyed so she can’t just try again, right? Unless the Vanguard left other similar sites behind.”
“From what we’ve seen of Antonia, and what you mentioned of Kyra, it seems like the Senator was the caster behind this. I don’t think Antonia has the capabilities to try it again,” says Rae.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Jaezred concurs. “So far, the Behooved hadn’t used any magical means to do their work, as far as we know anyway. They’ve always been using mundane means to smuggle weapons and preach their message. But this brings us to the final topic of the matter: the mastermind behind this conspiracy. We know who it is now.”
“Wait, we do?” Keros says.
“An arcanaloth called Mogtron. Stupid name, I know. He bore a long-standing grudge against adventurers. He’s dead now.” Jaezred looks at Keros. “He was the architect of the Giants’ War in K’ul Goran. Adventurers killed him at the end of it, but of course he reformed in the Lower Planes.”
“Wait… they’re real?” Keros asks, almost disbelievingly. “Then it doesn’t matter that Stuurm is dead. They’ll be able to use any other Vanguard sites right? They probably taught her how to do it.”
“It does matter, as one would need to be highly proficient in magic in order to perform such a ritual. Mages of that calibre are hard to come by, and most who would be willing to do this are no longer around after the Vanguard purge.”
“So… they couldn’t have just taught someone else?”
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility. But if they taught it to more people, why was Stuurm the only one performing it? A big ritual like that is best conducted with multiple mages, using as much arcane power as possible and allowing it to continue in case one of the ritualists gets, say, gored by a minotaur. I think it’s unlikely.”
“Rae, you’re the wizard here. What do you think?”
“I agree with Jaezred’s assessment, if they had more able casters they would’ve used them in the ritual. They won’t be able to perform any magic on that scale for a long while, so I don’t think we need to worry about the magical side of things here. I think we need to use this time very wisely.”
Rae then casts message to Keros and Jaezred with a subtle point of their finger, conscious that they are not in the safe confines of Gossamer Threads.
“We need to make a move to secure Antonia once and for all. We need to pull the wind out of the sails of those moving towards civil war before it goes too far,” they whisper.
“Fuck. Yes.” Keros grins, reassured.
“Yes. The veterans in their ranks are the biggest threat to K’ul Goran right now. I believe the ritual was either Mogtron’s or Stuurm’s idea and not Antonia’s — she seems to be the type who’d prefer storming the Senate rather than doing arcane rituals,” Jaezred replies. “The Behooved must be taking this opportunity to regroup, restock weapons, and recruit — spreading the lie that Stuurm was assassinated for her political opposition to the Purists, no doubt. But they can’t do this without cash. Follow the money and see where it leads…”
“I think the two of you deserve some good old rest and relaxation,” Jaezred says aloud. “Let’s reconvene at another time, and somewhere more secure.”
“Absolutely, we’ll be looking forward to it. Always a pleasure, Jaezred.” Rae raises their glass towards him then finishes their drink.
Jaezred smiles and fishes out a pocket watch from his waistcoat. “And look at the time. I’ve got to run now. Enjoy each others’ company.” He winks and gets to his feet.
As he trots out of the Hung Rabbit, exchanging goodbyes in Drowic Elvish with Dhauzith the landlord, a finger is stealthily pointed at Keros and a message is cast:
“Here’s a question for you to ponder: who is the richest person in K’ul Goran and what do they have got to lose from the Purists being in power?”
When the drow aristocrat has already sped off on his phantom phaeton, Keros turns to Rae and says, “Well, he’s still finding new and creative ways to fuck with me.”
“I think that’s what he does, like, professionally.”
“It seems to pay well.”
Fin.
Keros is still smiling at Rae when Jaezred asks him to tell his story, and then reality kicks back in.
“Well, Antonia made her move. Jarvenol got cut off. They grabbed a few of us to head over there — luckily I was drinking with Sorrel at the time. Have you met Sorrel? Damn good soldier.” He pauses to take a drink,
”Anyway… they grabbed their friend Sparks and we picked up a couple of new adventurers fresh off the boat, Walker and Rykan. We arrived at the war council and they told us that the 1st, 4th, and 6th were mobilised and en route, but everything was happening too fast and some kind of ritual was going on down in the old Vanguard Cathedral. We were to meet up with the Errant Guard and they'd make a distraction whilst we did whatever we had to do. I was… a little distracted in the meeting.”
He glances at Rae briefly before continuing.
“So we went over there and met up with Kassandra Farcleaver and an air genasi called Breezy who was leading the Errant Guard detachment. We really owe Kassandra one — gave us the chance to sneak into the labyrinth without a fight.” Keros pauses for another drink and his face darkens.
“Everyone else seemed lost down there and I know that not everyone gets labyrinths like we do, but I’ve never been there before and it felt… too familiar. I know our history. I just… hadn’t felt that pull before. It was unnerving. Made me feel like a weapon, a tool… not a person.”
Keros shakes it off. “So we got to the ritual room. A few thugs protecting robed figures on platforms, Kyra Stuurm at the centre. Some kind of magic thing going on with the platforms revolving round and barriers protecting them. Antonia Warborn was on the other side of the room, but she fled like a fucking coward.”
“Senator Kyra Stuurm, the Optimates leader?” Jaezred asks with a raised brow.
“Yes. Apparently a spellcaster of some kind? She was doing a ritual. So most of the others stayed put as they had a good defensive position and could fight the actual battle. Walker and I jumped onto the platforms and did our best to disrupt the ritual. They had reinforcements coming in trying to stop us including veterans from the 1st and… from the 6th. The legions are apparently split. One of my brothers… former brothers. Was there fighting us.”
“Oh, Keros.” Rae rests their head against Keros’s shoulder and holds his arm tightly with both of theirs.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “That was a bit rough.”
Jaezred doesn’t say anything. He purses his lips and signals to Dhauzith in Drow Sign Language to bring a pint of ale to the table.
“Anyway, magic isn’t my thing so I just sort of broke through the barriers, which hurt a lot. Whatever spell they were trying to cast made us want to stop fighting. Stuurm was saying something about wanting to ‘stop the war before it started’ like it was going to affect all of K’ul Goran, like she was going to make us comply. It looked like it was about to finish and I managed to force my way through into her final sort of… bubble? And impaled her on my horns. Which I don't like doing, but it was all I could do to make her stop. So yeah. Dead senator, Cathedral collapsed, we all got out. They gave us medals. And now civil war is inevitable. Thousands are going to die. Hard to see it as too much of a victory.”
He takes the pint of ale and drinks half of it in a single gulp.
Jaezred is silent as Keros finishes telling his tale, contemplating this turn of events and the consequences thereof. The minotaur warrior looks positively haunted by the experience; he’d clearly put it out of his mind whilst focussed on his new relationship with Rae until he was forced to reckon with it today.
Rae’s expression turns very concerned, and the magnitude of the situation seems overwhelming to them. “You did the right thing. A mass enchantment like that… It can result in nothing but further misery. It’s misuse of power and you were right to stop it.”
“Rae is correct. If it could make you want to put down your weapons, who knows what it could do to ordinary citizens?”
“I certainly don’t. Well, we’ll see if I made the right call over the coming months I’m sure.”
“No use in trying to go backwards, soldier. We can only march forward,” Jaezred says. “Was there anything else that stood out to you?”
Keros thinks for a while. “Those are the main bits. When I’m in a fight I get pretty… focussed. And if someone explained the ritual to me I probably wouldn’t get it — I’m not like you two. Antonia got away, but the Cathedral was destroyed so she can’t just try again, right? Unless the Vanguard left other similar sites behind.”
“From what we’ve seen of Antonia, and what you mentioned of Kyra, it seems like the Senator was the caster behind this. I don’t think Antonia has the capabilities to try it again,” says Rae.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Jaezred concurs. “So far, the Behooved hadn’t used any magical means to do their work, as far as we know anyway. They’ve always been using mundane means to smuggle weapons and preach their message. But this brings us to the final topic of the matter: the mastermind behind this conspiracy. We know who it is now.”
“Wait, we do?” Keros says.
“An arcanaloth called Mogtron. Stupid name, I know. He bore a long-standing grudge against adventurers. He’s dead now.” Jaezred looks at Keros. “He was the architect of the Giants’ War in K’ul Goran. Adventurers killed him at the end of it, but of course he reformed in the Lower Planes.”
“Wait… they’re real?” Keros asks, almost disbelievingly. “Then it doesn’t matter that Stuurm is dead. They’ll be able to use any other Vanguard sites right? They probably taught her how to do it.”
“It does matter, as one would need to be highly proficient in magic in order to perform such a ritual. Mages of that calibre are hard to come by, and most who would be willing to do this are no longer around after the Vanguard purge.”
“So… they couldn’t have just taught someone else?”
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility. But if they taught it to more people, why was Stuurm the only one performing it? A big ritual like that is best conducted with multiple mages, using as much arcane power as possible and allowing it to continue in case one of the ritualists gets, say, gored by a minotaur. I think it’s unlikely.”
“Rae, you’re the wizard here. What do you think?”
“I agree with Jaezred’s assessment, if they had more able casters they would’ve used them in the ritual. They won’t be able to perform any magic on that scale for a long while, so I don’t think we need to worry about the magical side of things here. I think we need to use this time very wisely.”
Rae then casts message to Keros and Jaezred with a subtle point of their finger, conscious that they are not in the safe confines of Gossamer Threads.
“We need to make a move to secure Antonia once and for all. We need to pull the wind out of the sails of those moving towards civil war before it goes too far,” they whisper.
“Fuck. Yes.” Keros grins, reassured.
“Yes. The veterans in their ranks are the biggest threat to K’ul Goran right now. I believe the ritual was either Mogtron’s or Stuurm’s idea and not Antonia’s — she seems to be the type who’d prefer storming the Senate rather than doing arcane rituals,” Jaezred replies. “The Behooved must be taking this opportunity to regroup, restock weapons, and recruit — spreading the lie that Stuurm was assassinated for her political opposition to the Purists, no doubt. But they can’t do this without cash. Follow the money and see where it leads…”
“I think the two of you deserve some good old rest and relaxation,” Jaezred says aloud. “Let’s reconvene at another time, and somewhere more secure.”
“Absolutely, we’ll be looking forward to it. Always a pleasure, Jaezred.” Rae raises their glass towards him then finishes their drink.
Jaezred smiles and fishes out a pocket watch from his waistcoat. “And look at the time. I’ve got to run now. Enjoy each others’ company.” He winks and gets to his feet.
As he trots out of the Hung Rabbit, exchanging goodbyes in Drowic Elvish with Dhauzith the landlord, a finger is stealthily pointed at Keros and a message is cast:
“Here’s a question for you to ponder: who is the richest person in K’ul Goran and what do they have got to lose from the Purists being in power?”
When the drow aristocrat has already sped off on his phantom phaeton, Keros turns to Rae and says, “Well, he’s still finding new and creative ways to fuck with me.”
“I think that’s what he does, like, professionally.”
“It seems to pay well.”
Fin.
