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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1452605" data-attributes="member: 15043">The Concert of Horror“Hon.... you look...” Lucius’ voice trailed off, causing Siabrey to blush.  After they’d returned from the bathhouse, he’d helped her get into her dress, among other things.  She followed the same plan as the night of the Imperial gala; electrum dust on the wings, and she breathed easily again as her wings were able to shift freely.  From her side hung a gilded ceremonial longsword, intricately carved, and on loan.  She had made sure it matched Lucius’ dress weapon as well.“Thank you, love,” she gave him a kiss, before waving at Shaun and Elenya.  “Hurry up you two!  We’re going to be late!”“Hold up! Hold up!” Shaun yelled several times.  “Sweetie,” he turned to Elenya, “is my hat on straight?”Elenya gave a sigh as she looked at the outrageously big, floppy hat and the red feather Shaun wore on his head.  Shaking her head, she straightened it out... rather, she put it at the exact rakish angle he wanted.“There... it’s as crooked as you want,” she said, and Shaun giggled with excitement.  A dress rapier, its hilt golden and wrapped with carvings, hung at his side.  It jingled as he came up alongside Lucius and Siabrey.“Well... that’s everyone,” Siabrey said, as she climbed into the simple black carriage.  Personally she had thought even this was ostentatious, but Lucius insisted on two carriages... one for them specifically.  She knew he had something on his mind, and she kept reflecting back on the words he’d said that morning about betrothal... and her heart leaped and chittered with joy.“So?” she asked, leaning against his formal tunic and all its silken puffery, “what’s the surprise Luke?”  She ran a finger down the side of his cheek lovingly.“What surprise?” his eyes grew big, and she laughed.  He’s trying to hide the fact he’s planned something.  “Luke, I wasn’t born yesterday,” she sat back up, smiling, “tell me what it is!”  He shook his head, and she grabbed his hand in hers.  “Please?”“Alright... fine,” he chuckled, squeezing her hand some more.  “I’ll tell you.  You see, I’ve been planning with Tess for something to happen at this concert...”“Umhm...” Siabrey nodded.  This was easy!  Please Luke... tell me you’ve decided to take me as your betrothed!  She leaned up close to him, her expectation dripping in the air.“Well... I persuaded Tess to do the Smashing Skulls song onsta... ow!” he laughed as she slugged him.  “That song isn’t fit for a major concert hall, and you know it!” Siabrey laughed.  He won’t tell me... oh well.  “Fine.  Keep your surprise to yourself!”  He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, and she turned her head away.  “Nuh uh.  Nope!  You won’t share your secret, I won’t share my lips!”Lucius merely laughed, and his finger found the lower end of her ribcage.  As she squirmed under his tickling, he netted a kiss anyway... and Siabrey was only partially unwilling.As the party filed in, ushers took them to the fifth room, where their seats were.  Elenya and Siabrey had refused being seated in a box, despite Lucius’ plans and Shaun’s complaints he’d never actually sat in a box seat before (he’d dashed through one as three private guardsmen tried to grab his leg, but that was a different story).“Shauny, have you ever been to a formal concert before?” Elenya asked him, and he looked at her and shrugged.“No... am I doing something wrong?”“You’re supposed to sit down so others behind you can see!” she hissed quietly, yanking him down playfully.  He exaggerated his “Oof!” on purpose, and Elenya was about to start a slugging match when the lights dimmed as ushers began to blow out the excess candles.  “Ok... I’ve only been to one real theater performance ever,” Elenya whispered to him, “but this is normally how they start.”“By making things dark so no one can see... that gives me ideas,” Shaun said playfully, until Elenya’s withering gaze made him quickly apologize.A stuffy, oafish man behind them said, “thank you, young miss, for getting that oaf out of my vision....hmm.”“My pleasure, sir,” Elenya grinned at Shaun in the growing gloom.  Shaun merely wrinkled his nose, and silently did his best imitation of the man’s face when he wasn’t looking.The four watched with earnest as one by one the performers filed onstage, and Elenya had to elbow Shaun again as he started to cheer for Tess as she took position with her harp.  “You don’t cheer till after they’re done with a song!” she hissed again, “its not polite!”As the melodic strings of hte first piece hung in the air, two things immediately became apparent.  First, Tess, easily, was the best musician on stage... ahead of Myria herself.  Second, it looked as if Myria’s voice was strained, or she had the flu.  She was being outdone by Tess, and one backup singer who had the larger, pointed ears of a fey.After applause, Myria evidently asked the fey to take the lead on the second song, as she went and drank some water out of a canteen.  Tess and the fey clearly were musically dueling each other... a duel that went through into the third song of the concert.}Shaun wasn’t entirely sure when it happened, but he felt something just... go wrong at that point.  The music of the half fey had been wonderful... beautiful even... as gorgeous as she was (though Shaun dared not say that out loud), but now, the tone had changed... it wasn’t harsh or overtly threatening... but it was... different.  He could see Tess frowning on stage as well.  It was clearly not part of the act.He wasn’t sure who did what first, but his first knowledge that something major had gone wrong was hearing the stuffish, old man behind him scream, “You bastard!” and begin choking the elderly man and woman next to him...Tess looked on in confusion, as shouts arose from the audience.  Initially she was afraid that they were booing, and hissing.  Instead, she saw them begin to throw punches at each other, until quickly the entire theater was one massive brawl.. save her four friends, stuck in the middle, dodging blows.  Wait... Tess thought, this didn’t start until that fey started singing.... oh god!“Stop!” she yelled at Belyia, “stop singing!  You’re driving them mad!” Maybe she doesn’t know what she’... Tess’ mind started to assume, until Belyia turned with a calculating look in her eyes.Tess responded with a sharp shriek, and three sonic darts imbedded themselves in Belyia’s chest and stomach.  The half fey stumbled, and then charged at Tess.  The bard was confused as a series of vicious, terrifying blows slammed into her stomach and kidneys, knocking the wind out of her.  As Tess reeled, she watched as one of Belyia’s “friends” knocked Myria unconscious, and the other headed towards Tess menacingly.Siabrey shoved hard with all of her might, screaming, “Get out of the way!” at all the upper crust people in front of her busy pummeling each other.  She’d seen the furious blows the fey was landing on poor Tess... and someone needed to get on stage to help her.  She felt a brush behind her momentarily as Shaun also tried to shove through, but neither could make progress in the massive storm of humanity flailing about.“Luke!” Siabrey called, looking around.  She didn’t see him in the mess.  “Luke!  Toss me on stage!” she yelled.  Where is he?  I hope he’s ok!  She didn’t hear any response over the din, nor did she see him at all.Tess meanwhile reeled as the two backup singers kicked and punched her mercilessly, each blow feeling as if it were a full sword strike.  Tess’ body was badly bruised already after only a few seconds, and she knew she couldn’t last much longer alone.  Out of the corner of her eye, she watched fearfully, hoping to see the familiar flash of blue that marched Lucius, or yellow that marked Siabrey... she saw neither.As she concentrated on defending herself, Tess saw the half nymph suddenly leap into the crowd and vanish in the roiling sea of humanity.  When Tess last saw her, she was heading directly for Siabrey...“Luke!  Dammit, where are you!” Siabrey called, her sword out.  She couldn’t use it against any concert goers openly, though those that tried to slug her quickly found its hilt slammed into their jaws.  As she spun back towards stage to resume her push, she thought she saw an opening... an opening that turned into a yawning chasm.The crowds, even as they fought, seemed to part for one person... the half nymph that had been on stage.  The woman walked towards Siabrey coolly... confidently, seemingly unconcerned about the people around, or the fact that Siabrey had witnessed her just pummel Tess.  As she approached, Siabrey had a moment’s reaction time to see a black shape flick into the woman’s hands before the thorns of a Black Rose cut deep into her arm...An overwhelming sense of dizziness and faintness overcame Siabrey... it seemed as if her consciousness wanted to disappear, to run away from her body.  She felt nauteous, and as the world spun, she felt herself falling...The world started to slow down, jsut in time for Siabrey to see the point of a sword lance out of the nymph’s belly.  The woman gave a gasp of shock, as Lucius materialized behind her, a look of deadly fury in his eyes.  Siabrey reached out and grabbed the woman’s shoulder to stabilize herself, as her muddled brain slowly regained itself.  Nonetheless, she felt far weaker than before (3 points Con Damage)Regaining her balance, and seeing the nymph turning towards Lucius even as blood gushed from the creature’s belly, Siabrey slashed her across the back with a fury.  Don’t even think of pulling that black rose on my love!Shaun meanwhile had decided subtlety was not going to work, and lowered his shoulder and bowled his way through the crowd, dipping and dodging as much as he crashed and shoved. He managed to climb onto stage, just in time for one of Tess’ attackers to swing and deliver a brutal chop to his shoulder.Her compatriot, meanwhile, continued to brutally pummel Tess.  The bard staggered hard, bruises covering most of her face, two ribs broken, and one of her shoulders knocked out of joint.  She was tired, beaten... and furious.  Despite her physical injuries, her voice remained, and with another shriek, Tess’ assailant found sonic energy shattering her skull, spreading its contents over the crowd.Almost at the same instant, Elenya, who had spent hte previous 30 seconds carefully judging angles, unleashed a lightning bolt into the woman who had slugged her Shaun.  The woman collapsed to the stage, electricity arcing out of her eyeballs into her ears as she shuddered.A split second later, Siabrey watched as Luke brought his ceremonial longsword high (its blade likely coated in blood for the very first time) and smashed the nymph in the back of the head with it.  She woman collapsed unconscious with a gutteral “uff!”Looking at her love, she saw the brains and blood scattered over his fine shirt, and realized the wetness she felt was the same all over her beloved yellow dress.  My dress is ruined! her mind complained, before her practical fighter side interrupted.  Siabrey?  Did you just have that as your initial thought after being surprised by attackers?  ‘My dress is ruined?’  You need to spend WAY less time around Tess... you almost DIED.  On that thought, Siabrey began to shiver.The crowds around the party had slowed in their anxiousness to start brawls, until after a few seconds, they all stood around in shock.  And then they noticed the bodies.Screaming and bedlam ensued, as several hundred people forced their way to the exit just as city watchmen tried to force their way in.   Chaos ensued, though order was restored as Lucius went to talk to the watchmen and explain what happened.Tess healed herself some, and then clambered off stage, seeing the woman lying near Siabrey and her friend weak.  As Tess drew close, she saw Siabrey was shivering, looking at the woman’s prone form.“I almost died, Tess!” Siabrey said in a hushed voice, “she had a black rose, and she stabbed me with one of its thorns!  I don’t know why I didn’t die...” Siabrey reached up, and Tess grabbed her friend and pulled her close.“I guess Hieroneous didn’t think it was your time,” she said softly, “though it concerns me that this one was the only one that brought out its rose to attack.  The other two had roses, but didn’t use them...”  Siabrey pulled away, her eyes dancing even greater in fear.“I’m a target,” she said softly in realization, “why?”  She pulled Tess close and began to shudder, in fear and confusion.  Why would anyone want to kill me?  What have I done?  She felt another, larger reassuring hand come down on her shoulder, and she leaned back slightly as Luke gave it a loving squeeze.“Its ok hon,” he said quietly, filled with love and at the same time, a cold, hard hatred.  “The city watch is going to let us help interrogate this woman,” he motioned to the prone assailant.  “We’ll find out who did this... and I will personally skin their hide!”  This was supposed to be the night I asked for your hand... instead... they almost killed you!  I shall have their hides tanned and made into a mantlepiece!About an hour later, the party found themselves, still in their ruined formal dress, inside the barracks of the city watch.  Their unknown assailant sat before them, bound and gagged... and still unconscious.  Tess finished fetching a cup of water, and doused the woman with it.  As she sputtered, Tess leaned low, Fa’rallan dangerously close to the woman’s eyes.“Hello, Belyia,” Tess said, the same cool, dangerously quiet voice in her lips as when Rogar was being questioned.  Her friends had come under attack again... and those who attacked her friends deserved no mercy.  “This is my friend... Fa’rallan... she likes to eat eyes,” Tess’ smile became sadistic.  “If you don’t tell me and my friends what we want to know, I think she’ll have a buffet tonight...” The woman named Belyia remained stone silent, and Siabrey asked the first question.“Who do you work for?  Countess Caladron?”“Who?” the tired, husky voice of the half nymph responded.“Rogar?” Shaun asked, and the woman again was confused.  She was also confused by the name Ilia.“I remind you,” Tess said, her voice barely a whisper, “if I think you are lying, I will first cut out the whites of your eyes... so that your pupils can see...”“Luke, is there anything you can do?” Siabrey asked quietly, as she started to shudder at Tess’ voice.  When Tess becomes like this, it scares me...  “I don’t want Tess to fall off the deep end, like she almost did with Rogar.  Is there a way to make her talk? About something?”Luke looked off for a second, before saying softly, “there may be one thing.”  He reached into his pocket of spell components, and after some arcane words and symbols, Siabrey saw a flash of magic come off of him, and head towards the woman.  Her eyes stopped looking at Tess and Fa’rallan, and instead stared, unfocused, at Lucius.“Belyia,” he leaned close, and she craned forward towards him.  What is he doing? Tess’ mind thought darkly.  How are my threats supposed to work if he keeps inter... wait.  Tess looked at the woman’s face, and compared it to the faces of the concertgoers that night... their blank stares were exactly the same, just before they started fighting, as if waiting for a suggestion...“Belyia,” Luke said again, “Will you tell me who sent you to kill Siabrey Sipner?”  His voice was amazingly even, despite  the genuine and terrible anger Siabrey could see in his eyes.  To everyone’s surprise, the woman nodded slowly.“I shall tell who sent me,” she nodded.“Who sent you then?”“Empress Zoe... she said kill the red eyed woman that stole her marriage and embarrassed her pride...” the woman said distantly...</blockquote>

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