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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1454536" data-attributes="member: 15043"> A Plot Uncovered”Who?!” Tess nearly shouted, her fury boiling and foaming at the surface.  Shaun stood back, his mouth agape.  Luke looked deep into the nymph’s eyes, his own changing nearly steel grey.  From them already came a dangerous clang of arms and war.  “Its true,” his voice said... inhumanly deadpan, a monotone that called for nothing but death... simple... utter death.“How do you know that?  Why would she do that?” Tess nearly shouted.  “It makes no logical sense!  I think this bitch is lying!” Fa’rallan raced back down to beside Belyia’s throat... and Luke slowly reached down and pushed the blade away.“It is the truth... I cast suggestion on her, and suggested she give me the information.  She succumbed to my willpower...”Her eyes went glazed... as if she was waiting for... yes, Tess lowered Fa’rallan, she does speak the truth.  It was then that Luke saw Siabrey’s reaction. The fighter stood shaking a few feet away, a combination of rage and fear swiftly changes places on her face. The memory of her mother’s words haunted her soul... ’She is the Empress... she can haunt your father down... she can hunt me down...’She can even hunt you down, Siabrey, her mind creaked.  The weight of an entire Empire is going to be bearing down on you... bearing down on you, and Lucius!What if she does something to Lucius?Her mind was too filled with these arguments, fears, and terrors to coherently think... instead her hands clenched themselves into and out of fists unconsciously, not knowing whether to grab her katana and hunt down the Empress, or grab Lucius and refuse to let him go.  She means to kill me... to kill my family...  Within seconds, a set of warm arms had encircled her, and she felt Lucius’ breath on her cheeks as he gave her a gentle kiss.“Do not worry, love,” he whispered in her ear.  She noticed his voice was as hard as a breastplate... but none of the hardness was directed at her.  “No one will ever touch you... so long as I have a breath in my body.”  And should that bitch ever stretch her vile hands out like that again... there will be hell to pay. “What are you talking about, Luke?” Shaun asked quietly, his own voice quaking at Luke’s hint of what might come.  “Civil war?”  Lucius looked up from Siabrey, even as he kept his arms around her shaking frame.“Yes... civil war,” the same cold, calm voice said.  “And I will have the nobility on my side,” he began to grit his teeth, “and I shall sweep her brothel broomstick behind out of that palace with the tip of my blade!”“Captain, Lieutenants?” Tess asked, her voice nearly the same tone as Lucius’, “You witnessed what this woman said?”  The Captain of the City Watch, the highest officer in the organization, nodded.You tried to kill my friend, you tavern snarfer! Tess swore inwardly, as Fa’rallan neatly split the assassin’s larynx and both jugulars.  “She is dead,” Tess announced the obvious.It was only a few moments later when the party dashed towards the Imperial Palace... towards what everyone agreed was their major salvation... Alexander.  Was he involved in the plot too? Tess’ paranoid mind screamed, What if he was?  What if we were sacrifical pawns in some game he was playing against his sister?Calm Tess... her calmer mind chimed in, Who else are we going to trust... who else will help us?  If he will not, we are truly alone...The party arrived at the main gate, fully expecting a harrowing delay... and more assassins there.  Instead, the night guardsmen let them in quickly, with less than a two minute delay.  They trampled through the palace, and demanded of the majordomo that the Crown Prince be roused from his sleep for a matter of utmost urgency regarding his godson... in the meantime, the party was instructed to wait in the small formal throne room.It was only a day ago that we first met him, Siabrey thought, as she clung to Lucius nervously, and now our lives... my life... rest in his hands.  And more importantly... my love for Luke..  she looked up worriedly, as her love’s eyes still burned with that distant, powerful hatred.Alexander’s approach was signaled by several loud curses, and a shout of, “If anyone made up some crap using Lucius’ name, I will kick their behinds off this balcony!”  A few seconds later, the doors to the throne room were flung open, and Alexander thundered into the room, still ominous and imposing, even in his nighties.Lucius and Tess took turns explaining to Alexander in tones that varied from barely controlled anger to complete spite what had happened, and how the Empress had plotted to kill Siabrey, her rival.  To Tess’ rage and Siabrey’s fear, the Crown Prince merely stroked his lower jaw.“Hmmm... not surprised really... she is daft like that,” he said, motioning the group to have a seat on the dais beside the throne.  He himself stood in the middle of the room and paced.“Wha... ‘not surprised!?’  Honestly, Your Majesty, is that all you can reply with!?” Tess rumbled heavily, as Siabrey leaned closer to Luke, now even more frightened that Alexander might refuse them protection.  “We have the captain of the watch ready to state he witnessed the assassin say this!”“Assassinations are the way among the nobles these days, it seems,” he sighed.  “It is a shame really... that so many are too afraid to settle their differences face to face, and instead resort to sniping, bombing and poison.  And really... if it came down to word of the Empress, versus the word of a captain of the watch... who would win?”“Declare her coronation null and void!” Tess called, still hopping mad.  “Someone with that temperament should not be in such a high and glorious position!  You, Your Majesty are infinitely more qualified, dammit!”Alexander gave a small, forced laugh, and looked at Tess, “I know I am more qualified... unfortunately I am five years, seven days younger... and unfortunately I cannot simply declare that Zoe is no longer Empress... ‘tis her birthright.”“But...” Tess started, before Alexander held up his finger.“I can, however, place you all formally under my protection... where she shan’t be able to do anything like this again... at least without rousing the ire of the commander of the Imperial armies, the armies that answer to him... not her.”  His own words were quite dark, and hinted that if Zoe pushed too much further, Alexander might do Tess’ request by less than legal means.“I still can’t believe that she did that,” Siabrey stammered.  “No one’s ever tried to assassinate me before!”  “What if she comes in here now, and sees us?” Alexander came over and put a hand on Siabrey’s shoulder, above the arms Lucius still had wrapped around her protectively.  Lucius is the only one that has truly loved me...  the only one!  And now... she tried to kill me, and is trying to send him off to die!“She won’t, my child,” he said softly, before his face twisted again into a look of anger at his sister’s stupidity.  “She’s with the army... she’s been there for the past five hours... talking war.  Why?”  He leaned close to Tess.“The Countess is marching.  Oh don’t look so shocked,” he said, beholding their faces, “she’s had a full week’s head start on us, and draws closer by the day.  I told Zoe this could happen...” his anger rose again, and he began to shout, “hell, you Tess, a mere bard told her yesterday that this could happen!  Yet she was too pompous and pinpricked to pay a piece of damn attention!”   Alexander took a breath, trying to calm himself.“Twelve score thousand march on us from the south, and three score thousand mongrels from the west... over 300,000 all together,” Alexander laughed emptily, “and here we fat cats sit in Irulas, our pants down as we relieve ourselves, sitting ducks for her columns!”  he snarled.  “Sadly, I’m afraid any ideas of rebellion against her have been pre-empted...” Tess faintly heard the Crown Prince say under his breath.“When do we march?” Lucius looked up.  His arms tightened around Siabrey, as he dreaded the answer.  Siabrey’s face tightened as tears began to sparkle in her eyes.“In three days... as soon as supplies can be readied and set up.  I’m sorry Luke,” he looked at his godson’s face.  “This wasn’t even within Zoe’s hands to mess up.”“M’lord,” Tess began, her anger gone and now replaced by worry, “we have letters taken from Lord Tor.  One of them leads us to believe the Countess has at least one great red wyrm under her control... and likely marching north with her armies.”“Dammit!” Alexander spat, before taking the three letters Tess had pulled out and scanning them hurriedly.  As soon as he finished, he looked up.  “What is this ‘miniature,’ they talk about here... and what is it hiding?”“Um... we don’t know, sire,” Shaun said quietly.  “We were hoping some of your court mages might know... because it sounds awfully important to the Countess...”“We’ll find out shortly,” he said, already motioning for pages to come forward, before barking to them that the Court mages and scholars were needed there immediately.“M’lord... would it be possible for me to send a message to Xanadu Brightcold... he is a wizard, and friend of ours,” Tess asked.  Lucius and Siabrey need those books sooner than I thought...“The dragon?” Alexander asked, causing the party to jump. “of course!”  A few claps and barked instructions later, and Tess had a small note asking Xanny to come to the palace on its way.“With all due respect, Uncle Alex,” Lucius asked quietly, slight tears in his own eyes, “how do you know she’s marching...” He could feel Siabrey’s form shuddering slightly against him, and Alexander nodded at his question, giving a sigh.“I have some sources of information that provide news faster than official outlets... sources Zoe doesn’t touch.    The Thieves’ Guild for one.  For example, they’ve informed me that Ilia, who they’ve been tracking for some time, is NOT travelling with the mongrel armies... indeed,” he leaned towards them, “she’s riding north, towards the residence of Keshaliya Sigfreund... sister of Marilith Tor...”“The miniature!” Tess cried, and Alexander nodded.  “She’s maybe two, three weeks from there... which is why I want to find out now what this miniature does... why they want it so badly......and then send you to fetch it.”“Us?” Tess asked, “why?”  We’ve got a bevy of issues to deal with now... Zoe trying to kill Siabrey, Siabrey and Luke leaving each other, and most importantly, the Countess marching north...“You’re the best we have, in terms of fighting abilities.  We can’t spare an army,” Alexander shrugged.  “In addition, it keeps you all away from Zoe... so she can’t do any harm to you.  Finally, you all ride fast.. and considering her residence is two weeks from Irulas, you’ll need to if you want to beat Ilia...”Dammit! Tess used her favorite word of the night again, “Is there anyway to get there faster?”  Ilia probably rides those same horses Rogar’s people did... they’re faster than ours even...“The Sigfreund regular manor has a small teleportation chamber... last we checked, the lady of the manor and her husband were not at the family keep, but up in their summer villa, a few days further north.  We can teleport you to the manor, and then you can proceed from there... that’ll likely shave some time off of your travel... considering I’m going to guess it’ll take a day to a day and a half for the mages to figure out what this, ‘miniature,’ is... as well as to get their end of the teleportation chamber in line...”“Can’t it be sooner!” Shaun complained.  We’re cutting it awfully close...  “Sadly, no.  We first have to send a messenger through, which I’ve already ordered done among the bevy of commands you just saw me issue.  We need a day for the mess to ‘recharge’ or whatnot, so he can return...” Alexander revealed his ignorance about high magical mathematical principles, “and the next day we can send you out... in short... you head out the day after tomorrow...”That leaves us one day... Siabrey’s heart broke, and she almost started sobbing again onto Lucius’ shoulder.  Its too soon... much much too soon....Alexander looked at the party, and closed his eyes in a sigh.  “If it were any other way, I wouldn’t go this course... but I have to look at bigger things that my godson and his friends sadly... namely that if the Countess wants this item that badly... it could easily tip the balance in the upcoming battle.”  He then went to beside Siabrey, and knelt next to her.  “As much as I know you would prefer to be by Lucius’ side in the upcoming battle... you’ll be helping him more if you can strip his enemies of an item that would greatly aid them.”  Siabrey nodded in understanding, but her will to stay with Lucius was stronger... and she debated not leaving him again. Or perhaps, after finding this magical item, riding straight towards his little army and not coming back to Irulas…“In the meantime...” Alexander started, before the doors to the throne room opened again, and a bevy of men in bright cloaks, frocks, hats and robes came in, their heads haughty and their noses downturned to all but Alexander and Lucius.  Without a word, the Crown Prince handed the mages the letters, and they gathered in a circle, reading and muttering.After a few minutes of annoyance, Tess finally broke into their circle and demanded, “What is the miniature!?  What is in there?!”“Its elementary,” a wizened old man, face wrinkled beyond belief by time pronounced.“The miniature,” began one grey bearded man, “is likely the material component for a spell called Leomund’s Magic Chest, which allows a user to store a chestful of items on another plane... where it is inaccessible to normal thieves and pickpockets.  The spell only lasts sixty days, however, before the items and the chest are lost, unless the miniature chest is used to retrieve the items.”“So if we can find and destroy the miniature, the items inside would be destroyed after several weeks?” Tess asked hopefully.“Mmmmm.... yes... but meethinks,” a younger, but not less bearded mage began, “we should retrieve these items, to see what they are.”  He furrowed his brow, “They might prove very useful to our own cause.”“I personally don’t think that we should mess with anything that the Countess is using,” Tess offered, and the mages scowled at her unsolicited advice.“If these items prove useful to defeating her, no matter their leaning, we should use them,” the same bearded man said.“Why would we... nevermind,” Tess sighed.  Can’t argue with mages... they know everything... she rolled her eyes.At that moment, yet another person strode into the room... a half elf with a mangy range of half grey hair and a somber look on his face.“Tess,” he began, “I’ll get to work on those books as fast as I can.  I might have them later tonight if possible... is that acceptable?”  “Yes, Xanny... thank you.”“And now,” he walked to where Luke and Siabrey still held each other, and knelt in front of them.  “This will be hard,” he whispered, “but you must hold strong... hold strong and tight... to each other...  to the important things... like love.” He tapped Lucius’ shoulder, “It is what kept me and Alisandra together despite a 350 year separation... surely it can keep you together for a few weeks.”  Siabrey managed to put an arm on his shoulder, and a sob rattled out of her.  “Thank you, Xanny,” she cried as he clasped her hand.  Giving it a little shake, he turned, and sped out to find the books Tess had requested...</blockquote>

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