It came upon a midnight clear...(Turn 0)
Gong...sounded the Long Bell of the War God Tower.
Most people had long gone to bed that night, a few people wandered to their beds after a late night down in the Dells. Others tried to curl up in their bed after a night of selling their bodies for a few marks a turn. Some plied their trade in this early morning, trying to jimmy locks, slip through high windows, or slip a blade into the unexpecting for the few measly marks in their pockets.
It seemed a normal night of the city. But there was something wrong...
For as the last echoes of the Long Bell were met by the sound of shod feet running along the cobbles of the street. The echoed in the high quarter, becoming loader, more numerous. Rising in volume in a crescendo...causing the bankers, lawyers, merchants, and Mar of that quarter to start to slip out of slumber...
Boom....Craaaacck...Craaack...Craaack
The residents of the high quarter, including those of the Old Protector's Palace, The Imperial Palace, and the New Palace all felt the sudden dark, cold charge pass through the air before the pressure wave of sound called out.
An uneasy peace fell upon the city streets. Dogs shivered and whimpered, cats vanished under cupboards, babies cried for comfort. Men and women rose from their beds and stared out windows across the darkened city, their ears and eyes trying to find the danger that their hearts said was out there.
Those that listened heard little...the occasional shout...the sound of steel bashing steel would suddenly puncture the air and then just as quickly vanish again.
Many of the Mar rose, they dressed in their linen shrifts and rhys wool pants, belting on their battle coats and their long blades. The young threw on jaunty hats with feather plumes, the older put on worn steel battle helms. They all walked out into the night armed with their swords, rifles, crossbow, bows, or battle axes. Most would find no rest this night. Some would find their eternal rest.
The Long Bell marked off the hours with its tolls...Two...Three...Four...Five...
The brief sounds of battle no longer called out from the streets as the sun began to rise over the city, as the old Long Bell struck off six hours.
At six thirty, the senior steward began striking her cow bell up and down the faded halls of the former K'zarian Governor's Palace, marking the the fifteen minute announcement for morning muster. Like most mornings, it was the mandatory meeting held in the Great Salon. All the mercenaries, even those still sick with the night before, were required to attend morning muster. For most members it was a bit odd to muster under the dulled, gaze of ancient carved K'zar princes as they paused in their eternal hunt of stags, bears, lions, goblins, orc, and koblods. To know that the marble floor was designed to hold the Eld K'zar as they danced the change of each season, not the dusty boots of the scum they thought should serve as serfs under their empire.
Breakfast was already set out on the tables waiting for the mercenaries. Today would be a meal of fried rice cakes fortified with scraps of mutton and vegetables from last nights dinner, served with boiled mutton sausages, boiled eggs, farm cheese and green sauce. To quench their morning thirst was the standard choice of beer, dark beer, or elkberry water (for any Mar present).
Those that arrived in the salon this morning were met with a gray, foggy morning out of the windows, and a very attractive fair red head sitting in the far corner of the room. The woman's brilliant green eyes seemed to smile at each of them in turn accompanied with a very attractive demure smile. Her white silk shirt and skin tight leather riding pants advertised every curve of her body. She was positioned at a small corner table to allow her to see all who entered the room, but also keep an eye out to the Uxe Court out below the windows. She sat with a man who appeared to be about forty, who was wearing a Sukra battle cloak (designed for the woman rangers of the Sukra Empire). Between them was a pair of glasses and a bottle of Sack. The woman was sipping her morning wine and completely ignoring her table companion at the moment.
The house captain stood next to the massive mantel across from the windows. He wore an old uniform of the Liester Company, pressed and neat. His right hand using a battle cane to prop himself up against a knee gone bad from an errant crossbow bolt. The captain watched as the current residents of the Guildhouse enter and sort of stand at attention. As the last of the residents entered the captain began to read off each name.
ÔÇ£Logan...Your shipping out for that job in Backu tommorrow?...ÔÇØ
Logan, a short, fat artileriest known for drinking all the money he made away almost as fast as he could make it nodded. The captain continued....
ÔÇ£Dwar Dwarf?....have you found work yet?ÔÇØ
A few of the other dwarves around had jobs protecting some rent bosses collecting rents down in the Dells.
ÔÇ£Ironback?....have you found work yet?ÔÇØ
ÔÇ£Mapmaker?....have you found work yet?ÔÇØ
ÔÇ£One-Eye?...have to ask but have you found work yet?ÔÇØ
After reading off the names he turns and let them all get to breakfast. He walked over and holds out the board. The woman takes it from him, smiles brightly and then puts it down, studying the people in the room.
***********
Ignatius Pyre - (Turn -1)
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It was early morning when the landlady poked Ignatius awake. ÔÇ£There is a boy outside saying he has an emergency message from Captain Auditor Redstar.ÔÇØ She explains. Before Ignatius can say yes or no the boy, a young runner of the local Auditor's office, appears and hands a note to Pyre.
A company of 12th Cohort is marching on Naverdire Palace, claim to have arrest warrant for Prince Maku, stop them before they do something stupid assist them damn it...Prince tried to kill Empress.
May the Twelve Gods help us!
H Redstar
Ignatius finds himself dressed and on the street as sees a group of men and woman pushing a cart ladened with orange painted barrels up the street. It is obvious that several of them are the city guard, and that the wagon has seen better days.
Ignatius chases the wagon, which is being pushed up to the High Quarter of the city. As he almost reaches it, it crests the hill and turns down the Grand avenue. He catches up with a guardsman who is now pausing, breathing hard from pushing the cart up the hill. ÔÇ£What...ÔÇØ
ÔÇ£I don't know...the Cohort just had them sitting next to the navy sloop they arrived in...ÔÇØ
Ignatius again begins to chase the wagon, when he notices figures moving in the darkness in the trees on both sides of the avenue. Beyond them stand the gates of the New Palace, fifteen feet high, the palace gates are covered in slabs of black carr to make them almost impregnable by magic. The men pushing the cart suddenly give one last lunge and then scatter...the Long Bell tolls one...
Ignatius finds himself realizing what those barrels might contain just as it smashes into the gates, while a tall figure in a battle coat appears from the shadow of a tree. A moment later, the blue pulse of energy slammed into the back of the wagon. Fool... is all he gets to think before he realizes that isn't standard gunpowder because it just exploded from a force blast...
The shock wave knocks him down. The tall soft grass and ground of the disused parade ground prevents him from taking much damage, but he still blacks out. As he goes under, he can feel the effect of pulling that much magical energy into such spells.
Pyre awakes to the feeling of something falling across his body. The night sky is still above him, he pushes himself up to find a the headless body of someone lying across his body, his dagger is in the dead man's hand.
ÔÇ£By the second moon, the bugger is alive...ÔÇØ Pyre recognizes the voice, a young whelp from some cadet branch of House Neban. The boy had more than once been found to be attempting some semi-legal activities.
ÔÇ£Well, I wasn't going to let some good for nothing cut-purse rummage the body of a Mar...but what in the fourteen kingdoms were you doing lying about on the ground? Lose a bet.ÔÇØ
Ignatius pushes the body off and notices that groups of people are milling around the now empty gateway of the Palace. ÔÇ£I know ol' Redstar was wondering where you were...ÔÇØ
Ignatius gets out a ÔÇ£Where is he?ÔÇØ before someone calls out from somewhere nearby...ÔÇØTwo more of the buggers have held up in an abandoned mill near the old wall...come on!ÔÇØ The whelp looks up smiles the smile of the young and foolish and runs off into the night yelling back at Pyre, ÔÇ£In the great courtÔÇØ Leaving Pyre to extract himself from under the headless cut purse.
Pyre walks through the smashed gate into the Grand Court of Naverdine Palace. The court is covered in still smoldering blasted fragments of the door. An Orc mercenary lies across the fountain in the center, a massive splinter protrudes from his skull some three feet. The arcade around the ground level of the court appears to be filled with wounded. Both guards and cohort are lying on the cold stone flags being attended to by the healers.
The windows of the Palace staterooms on the first floor stand bright with lights from inside. Some are smashed out...some of the rooms appear to have been on fire with smoke still lightly floating out into the air. In one corner bodies lay piled. As he walks along, another body is tossed from a window above onto the pile.
Pyre walks past a door off of the arcade and hears a familiar voice. ÔÇ£We need to consolidate our position...ÔÇØ
He steps through into a large service room, apparently for the preparation of sweets based on the equipment on the walls. At the large cooking table in the center of the room three people stand. Two are captains of the cohort based on the chains across their chest. One is a grizlly older Mar with grey hair, the other is a very tall woman with green eyes and red hair. With them stands auditor captain Redstar.
ÔÇ£...I've...Pyre...where the hell have you been?...I was told you were dead!ÔÇØ Redstar then shakes his head, ÔÇ£Well there are two auditors currently available...but your down to a handful of effective fighters in the cohort, and lets be honest...a pile of young Mar who might just go from trying to round up the Prince's co-conspirators to exacting some revenge outside of the courts....' Redstar looked at Ignatius with a narrow calculating glance as he stated it.
ÔÇ£We need to track him down...who knows what he may attempt next against the Zinthra and the Empress. Or do I need to remind you that it is very worrying that he seems to have built a sizable power base in this city to use against the decisions of the Zinthra, without your office noticing captain Redstar!' The green eyed woman was obviously just controlling her temper with the other two and had stated Redstar's like she was about to issue a blood oath against his entire House.
ÔÇ£Your both right, we need to consolidate our position this morning. But we do need to keep the pressure on Prince Maku, for all of the damage we've taken...it was obvious we caught them flat footed. They knew what was at stake and they had prepared, but they were not expecting your attack Aurora, so perhaps the bugger is stuck hiding in a hide hole in the city. First job is to track down all of these conspirators in the city to see if they will lead us to him.ÔÇØ
The group soon broke-up and Redstar cornered Ignatius. ÔÇ£Your job is to keep an eye on her...I don't need to report her getting killed back to the new Empress and the Zinthra...I doubt it would do either of us any good.ÔÇØ
Aurora spent the next few hours studying diagrams of the Palace complex. At times she would call out names out the door and pull in walking wounded to go check rooms. They would report back, usually even more tied. More wounded arrived, Old Mar proping up the young. Bodies on strechers began to arrive from around the city. The bodies of the Mar dead were carried through the room into a cold store room beyond. Auroa paused watching the body count of Mar approach three digits, it was obvious that the Mar of the city had gone crazy this night.
But then the whole Empire had gone crazy. The Zinthra had, pissed off at the reports of debauchery occurring at the Princes parties had degraded him from Heir and elevated a relatively unknown young woman from a minor cadet branch of House Quesa. The sudden death of the Emperor that followed on her elevation resulted in her not just being a stop gap while the Zin positioned their own candidates. She was now Empress, and Qin had shown its true colors then, they had tried to murder the Empress. And those sudden changes had left the loyalties and political alliances of the local Mar in limbo. And many had paid for that confusion with their lives. More victims of House Qin.
As six bells approached, Auroa looked at a sheet of paper and said. "Wait, there is a branch of the Mercenary guild in the city...literally in the palace?" She rose and turned to walk out the door.
She really said nothing about Ignatius following her around to the much older part of the Palace complex. There she literally pushed passed the protests of the porter and demanded to see the Captain.