ACT COMPLETE Angelcynn: The Myrcian Conflict - Act 2

[Terrador]

Angus lets out a hacking cough--the freedom from the ground allowed him the room he needed to breathe. In a few moments, he was able to relay some important information to the prince.

"Na' g-gagged." The squire spits out a bit more blood, along with a missing tooth. "Unhurt. Sid's goin'... right way, far as I c'n tell. Move quick, call, she migh' be able t'say somethin'." He wobbles on his hands and knees, failing to rise. "They're hired, an' time ma'ers." Angus at least manages to raise his head, looking Owen in the eye. "An' she said don' tell y-your old man." The drinks certainly weren't helping, but at least he got everything out that mattered... right...?

[Ether]

Angus had answered Owen's question as soon as she was able, which was one good thing, at least. Still, Adele found herself trembling with rage at the prospect of it.

"Which way did they go, Angus? I'll follow after Sidney... Sebastian, you'll be more agile than I, go ahead of me."

Edited April 24, 2016 by Satin. Dark Lord of Fabric

[Nanami Touko]

Alright, this was ridiculous. If these idiots thought they could honestly hold her this entire time without her making it tremendously difficult on them, they were dead wrong. "OHHHH, SHUT UP!" she barked out of the sack, "I'LL VRED YOUR GULLIVER IF I FUCKING WANT TO!" With a heavy heave, Cass yanked her ankle out of his grasp, still tugging hard at her arms, and began kicking at the man's head. She couldn't see him, so she had nowhere to aim, but surely it would slow them down some! Maybe she'd smack her heel into his jaw and get these morons to drop her. Then she'd could get this stupid sack off her head and see where they were going! Of all the trite horse shit, to think this is really happening!

[Tryhard]

Jean had been keeping his presence low in the city. You never know who could be looking for a supposed committer of treason and an exile. After a while, though, there was no sense keeping himself. Perhaps there would be adequate sights in this city. He had heard some others speaking earlier about a supposed party they had scheduled at the "Lucky Goose," but never really saw any burning need to interject or attend himself.

As it passed to the evening, he found himself scouring the streets for a lack of sleep, at least of a little while. He had heard the commotion erupting in one of the local bars, and so moved to the location. Truthfully, he had found himself as partly a self-proclaimed vigilante since he left Toulouse. Jean didn't want to draw too much attention to himself, but unplanned work sometimes went a long way to ensuring that was able to keep shelter and food.

"Wait, isn't that the..." Jean noticed that the bar in question was the Lucky Goose, where this supposed party was to take place. He had hoped that his comrades wouldn't be ones to go start causing trouble themselves. He made his way to the front entrance and inside, attempting to push past some of the crowd that had gathered there to view just what had happened.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Tryhard

[Terrador]

Angus pointed a shaky finger, indicating both his injury and his uncertainty of the direction. "Somewhere tha' way", he says, a bit stronger this time. The determined, battered squire pries a loose flagstone from the ground, slowly making his way to his feet. "Head on, call for 'er. I'll be... I'll be on shor'ly." He blesses the stress of his training and the campaign in his mind, tapping his foot down on the ground experimentally a couple of times. [No panic yet. Find her, you can freak out later.]

Edited April 24, 2016 by Terrador

[riariadne]

Sidney's trail seemed to be rather literally drying up quickly- she found herself confronted with a lone man in the alleyway. "You, did you see anyone pass holding someone else? I need to follow them, and if you know anything at all I would appreciate it." She lowered her knife while still keeping it visible- while not outright threatening, it still sent a message.

[Ether]

"Thank you. Make sure you get healed, she'll be in an even rougher spot if we bring her back and you've bitten it." Adele replied, taking off in the direction that Angus had pointed in, already at a sprint. Luckily enough she wasn't wearing heels, that would have been murder on top of her already unsuitable dress... oh well, she'd tear it short if need be. Assuming Sebastian would follow, or move ahead, the young noble didn't give it too much thought. There wasn't time for that sort of thing... what there was time for was a trail of blood left on the ground. It was faint, but it was follow-able, and fresh enough that it had to be who she was looking for.

[Toogee]

After hearing a brief explanation of what occurred, Doug was fairly certain that Cass should be locked up in her room for the rest of her life. After the fire and now this, it was clear that she couldn't be left anywhere without putting herself and everyone else in existential danger. Were she not a princess, most people (or just Doug) would have said "eff this" and left Cass to her own fate. Perhaps that was overstating Doug's position, but having already gone through one rescue attempt, he found this routine getting old already.

Though he did not work for Cass, Doug did work for her lesbian lover, which meant he had to spend the rest of the night roaming the alleyways in the hopes that Cass would still be alive. And he hoped she was; a dead princess would totally negate his earlier victory.

"Alright, let's go get her," Doug remarked to the others. Following Angus's pointing finger, Doug walked swiftly across the street, trying to find any additional clues as he kept pace.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Toogee

[Shin]

To the Rat Mobile!

The man nearly jumped back, letting out a nervous squeak as he eyed Sidney's knife. "Don't be hurting me, miss, I didn't do nothing, honest!" he whimpered, biting his bottom lip. "I did see some guys holding a sack run this way, but I didn't want to cause no trouble so I let them through! They were awfully big and scary, but I think I know where they was going! I can help you find them if you like! Just don't hurt me, miss. I'm an honest man!"

Work those legs!

The rear thug let out a pained grunt, Cass' leg had struck him right under the chin. The force had been quite something, although he'd thankfully managed to maintain his grip without dropping her. "I'm gonna spill some vino if yer keep playing up. You'll be doing more than a bit of the old boo-hoo." he warned, wrapping his arms around Cass' thighs.

"Enough with the govereet, the sooka don't need a bed time story. Mister E's gonna pay us big, we don't need to be yakkity yakking all his rabbit."

Onwards

Sebastian nodded, smiling as he bowed. "Of course, Lady Adeltrudis, I'll endeavour to... tidy up." he replied, quickly slipping off into the alleys. Adele managed to come across the same trail that Sidney had taken, following down the alley with Sidney and the rat man. He seemed to be directing Sidney towards the sideway to their left.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Shin

[Ether]

After a short while following the steadily decreasing trail, Adele found herself coming up on Sidney... she must have slipped past during the initial scuffle, talking to a small man, seemed rather jittery, but appeared to be giving her some information. Stopping abruptly nearby to the pair, Adele turned towards Sidney, rather twitchy in her own right.

"Anything useful from him?"

[Dandragon]

Serge had already began running by the time Angus had point, following Lady Adele and Doug. Please, let them not have done anything to her... He had finally caught up and noticed that Adele and the other lady were interrogating some man...Wait... "Hold on! I know this man!" Serge said stepping in front of both ladies. "Hey..." He said speaking in a calmer voice. "Hey, you remember me, right? From the rusty cutlass?"

[Nanami Touko]

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF ME!" Cass continued to belt out, hoping that her voice would be heard by someone in town. The beating she'd give the thugs once she got out of this...! "You're making an enemy of the second most powerful woman in Wyke! I don't care if that doesn't intimidate you now; when I'm staring you down with an axe in my hand, you'll get yours!" Being stuck in a sack meant all of these were empty threats, but once she was out, ohhhh, it would take at least ten men to keep her still! And if she got her hand on a weapon she'd tear them all apart! Whoever this Mister E is, he's just made the worst mistake of his life! If he thinks he can contain me, he's got another thing coming-- from Owen and Adele as well!

[riariadne]

"He says he might know where they went. I've been following him for a bit," Sidney explained. Suddenly one of the people from the party walked between her and the small man- his name escaped her at the moment. "Hold on what? He's helping us..."

[Dandragon]

Serge looked back at the lady. "Yeah but he's scared to death!" Then he faced the rat man as he got up close. "Listen, they're not gonna hurt ya. Their friends of mine. We just need you to help us. That's all. I swear no harm will come to you." He wasn't entirely sure why he was being so nice to him. Perhaps it was because he owed this man, or perhaps he felt sorry for him. Maybe something else entirely. Regardless, if he did have information, it would be in their best interest not to have him piss himself.

[Jotari]

Emmet hung back to help with the healing as the lady Adele rushed off. Fortunately there wasn't much to heal, it seems their little group's swift action dispatched the enemy with no casualties. Only the squire seemed out of sorts though that was probably as much the alcohol as injury. Emmet let out a sigh. He had only managed to get one drink in before all this started. AT least it meant he had a clear head. "I'm heading after the ladies" he told the rest of the group before rushing off. Adele was out of sight by now but he had little trouble following the trail even in the poor light. Living rough had forced him to learn some trades of a hunter. However the trail did eventually vanish. Fortunately the ladies Adele and Charlotte were unable to go any further either. They seemed to be in conversation with a witness. "What's happening?" he asked

Edited April 24, 2016 by Jotari

[Shin]

A rat's best friend

Rat man was relieved to see Serge, he was pretty sure that the young man wasn't going to let him get hurt... well, or hurt him any more than Sidney and Adele would. "Yeah, one of them was Big Stan, I knows where he does his stuff. It's a secret place, not many people know how to get there."

He cautiously began to lead the group ahead, he wasn't terribly quick, but he at least seemed to know where he was going.

She talks too much

"Should'a put a muzzle on the korova, she's making too much shoom an' all the lewdies will be slooshin'." he growled, wrapping a powerful arm under Cass' neck. "The boss don't care how you viddy it, we'll all have a dobby guff when we get the cutter for yah."

Their pace picked up, it didn't seem that they were taking much care with Cass, she'd been knocked against walls and doorways several times over. The princess could feel herself descending down a cold set of stairs, and was starting to smell. She could hear a couple of voices, most of them gruff men.

"The boss been tryin' to set this up for a while. Apparently he had bolshy eegra, it was tough to find someone willin' to filly."

"Yeah, it took him ages to interessovat, had to be subtle after her ded said he didn't want people fillyin' after his daughter... but what he don't know don't hurt him. Didn't get no joy from the fellas he spoke to, all of them too wappy for it."

"Shut yer rot, she can probably still sloosh."

[Nanami Touko]

About to scream again, an arm came around her neck through the sack, a pained gasp the only noise that followed. T-Too tight...! Between her air getting cut off and getting banged against walls as they went faster, Cass was quickly losing consciousness. All she heard before she finally conked out was the ramblings of whoever they were near, but Angus hadn't taught her any of this, so the words fell through her ears. Adele... H-Help...! Her brother wasn't there yet. This was probably far more serious than she had initially thought... And that fear finally settled in as her world went dark.

[Dandragon]

Serge picked up the pace to follow the Rat Man. "Thank you. Can I get your name?" He felt it was at least respectable to learn this man's name instead of referring to him as 'Rat Man'. ...Unless that was his name...Nah, that would ridiculous.

[Xinnidy]

"Wait, wait! What's going on?!" Owen froze in place, tense. Angus didn't ever actually mention it directly, which made the prince confused for a brief moment, but from Adele's actions as well as the rest of the group chiming in, it seemed that not only a fight had happened but some thugs escaped with Cass, no less. Owen could feel his sweat run cold.

"Angus, can you move?" Owen held out his arm to the squire, in case he needed any assistance. "How did this happen, anyways? You weren't away for that long, and it's the Lucky Goose of all places..." The man that spoke to Adele said one of them wasn't a criminal... what could this mean? It seemed as almost everybody else went trailing after the kidnappers, Owen quickly losing sight of them in that clear night. I'll lose the trail if I stay here, but... Owen bit his lip and looked back, toward the inside of the Lucky Goose. Many patrons seemed confused and wary, and surely rumors would arise. Damn it, Adele and Sidney also left... Argh!! Owen kicked the floor beneath him in frustration, "I'll... I'll have to handle this, Angus. Somebody has to stay and give a story to the staff and patrons. You were drinking, right? You should stay and try to recover. You don't look like you're in the position to help --and what if you got yourself caught too? What would I tell your family?" Angus was still a noble, after all. "I... I'll trust Adele. She's always had my back, and my sister's. She will come back with her." Owen spoke, more to comfort himself than Angus. He took a deep breath. In. Out.

[Ether]

Big Stan, huh? Well, Adele could only hope that they had taken her to this Big Stan's place of business, instead of to the residence of his client... regardless, as soon as Adele was aware of how to reach this place she'd make sure that it was wiped off the map, so it would be good to go there even if the man himself had managed to juke them... as much as she wished that would not turn out to be the case.

"Have you seen anyone... out of the ordinary in the area around this Big Stan?" She asked, clearly antsy. She wanted more than anything to just tell him to spill the directions so she could get there on her own faster, but she had no idea of knowing if he'd comply, and if she scared the man off, they were pretty well done, at this point.

[riariadne]

"Whatever! I'm not going to hurt him if he's legitimate, I'm not a monster! What matters is finding Cass quickly more than the little details!" The sword-using man's attitude quickly started to irritate Sidney. "Let's just go however quick we can, we don't need to dawdle talking about semantics."

[Terrador]

Angus groans, craning his neck experimentally after being healed by Emmet. "Thanks, mate", he mumbles. Left, right, behind--too many damn people. [Think, you sluggish bastard, get a hold of this crowd! Cass was attacked and the party's been split; keepin' Owen safe has got to be priority.] Angus begins to answer his liege, reaching through his drunken stupor for an explanation that could encourage the crowd to sit back down.

"Your Highness, I'm fine now. I c'n move, figh' even." The squire quickly deviates from the truth, naturally for the crowd's benefit; Owen had gathered the nature of what happened. "Pissed off a few folks on th'wrong side 'f town a few days back, they came lookin' t'kill me. Happens, na' important. Seems a wil' night though; dangerous t'be ou' on the streets." Here, Angus made pointed eye contact with a couple of the people looking a bit antsy, before turning once again to his liege. "In my humbles' opinion, Your Highness, we shou' head back in, wai' for th'rest t'come back 'fore we head home. Le' the city guard handle the mess." Angus' every instinct called for him to charge off into the alleys, but that simply wasn't tenable. Even drunk, he understood that Cassandra's capture may have been political, and that Owen's protection at the moment was already scarce.

The squire drops the improvised weapon, rolling his shoulders back and taking one step towards the crowd--a most unsubtle gesture hinting that they should give the Prince his due space if they didn't want to bounce off the walls.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Terrador

[Vestige]

Raewald? Is he a friend of Charlotte's? She had no idea why they would be visiting otherwise. "I'm Claire Bennett, of house Bennett. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying yourself." She really didn't think Hull was that exciting herself, but each to their own. Going off of what Charlotte had said, perhaps Raewalden people were just easily impressed? Or maybe Alain was just being polite. "You've come a long way to us." she continued, nodding her head. "Are you just visiting, or..." She stopped herself, frowning. In hindsight it was kind of rude to ask. Or at least it felt like it. "Erm, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to." Awkward.

He shrugged, "Nothing to hide, I suppose. I am visiting, but the reason for that visit was to speak with the King," he explained. "Now that that's said and done with, I'm free to spend my time at my leisure. At least until I'm called back," he said. He didn't mind explaining the reason for his visit, but the topic of the conversation he'd had was something he planned on keeping to himself for now. No sense getting the people talking before anything even happened. Speaking of things happening, there seemed to be a commotion occurring on the other side of the room, and it didn't sound all to good. "Perhaps we should go see what's going on?" he said, feigning curiosity. In truth, he'd have preferred to just keep sitting and minding his own business. What a bother, I knew I should have just stayed home. Maybe he'd be able to excuse himself once at the door.

[Shin]

Heart of a rodent

The man looked back timidly at Serge as they continued along, turning several corners as the group ran along. "It's easier just to call me Rat man or Ratty, everyone does."

There didn't really seem to be a pattern to where he was leading them, it was news to Adele that this part of Hull even existed. At last, they reached what appeared to be an opening to the sewers, the metal fence had been opened up, leading them to an access tunnel. "It's the third left, forth right, miss. I'll take you there... but I don't want Big Stan to see me... he'll kill me if he does. He normally does little jobs, it's not like him to be kidnapping someone important."

The tunnel was dark and ominous, a light or a lanturn probably would have been useful. Still, they had a guide, and that would have to suffice for now.

Mooncalf

People from the street had gathered around Angus, wondering what had happened and trying gawk at him. The crowd's mutterings and cries were a homogeneous mass of noise, but it was clear Angus was getting some attention. It would be difficult to keep them back, especially without support. The city guards hadn't quite arrived, and with only the bar staff to help, a disaster was brewing.

Plotting

Cass' consciousness waned and waxed, she was in no state to escape but she could hear odd snippets between some familiar voices.

"Hurry up and fetch our bachelor, it took a long time to choose him out. We were lucky we found someone remotely interested in the little minx. Kylander and Kearney were not options, and Dettard outright refused to court her..."

She could feel herself being moved again, her bindings undone as she was placed on a soft surface.

"Bartly was too old... and Perte was too poor... it's hard to find eligible bachelors amonst nobility."

[Dandragon]

Well...I should have expected that, yet I didn't. He thought to himself as he was led by Ratty. He turned back towards the others. "By the way...If I'm getting names I might as well get yours." He said to the lady. "The name's Serge."