ACT COMPLETE Angelcynn: The Myrcian Conflict - Act 2

[Ether]

"Thanks for your help. Don't worry, he won't need to see you." Adele noted, as she memorized the man's words in her head.

Third left, fourth right. Those were the only words that Adeltrudis really needed to hear. The tunnel was dark, but not entirely devoid of light... going forward wouldn't be the easiest thing, but nice as it was of this guy to guide them, he was simply too damn slow for her purposes. Pressing past him, Adele immediately broke into a run as soon as she was clear of the group, keeping her hand to feel the left wall for exits. On the third one, she turned into the opening, and hugged the right wall as she continued along.

[Nanami Touko]

Consciousness waned back and forth until Cass' eyes finally started to open, blurry vision blinked away after a bit. "Where...?" The first thing she could tell, she was on a bed. It wasn't anything luxurious, but compared to being treated like potatoes, it was a welcome feeling. Next, the room didn't have a lot of light. As she slowly started to push herself up, she could hear the soft flickering of a candle, turning her head to see a lantern. This also let her see some of the room; it wasn't the most inviting place. Shaking her head a bit to try and work the grogginess away, it became apparent that she was rather cold, finally rolling onto her back to see that her dress had been practically turned into a skirt. Were this a proper setting that would embarrass her, but now it only made her worry. Just get off the bed for a moment and see what's going on here--

She tugged at her leg, but something rattled, holding her back. A chain... Curses. Strong as she was, it would be a miracle to snap metal, and despite the bed being wood, it didn't seem worn or breakable. She sat up, covering herself, and looking around the-- "... Morning, gents," she said, to the thugs standing near the door. "You two wouldn't happen to be the ones that carried me here, would you?" Her bravado was strong, but considering they'd gotten her this far, that fear from before had settled, and she did not feel anywhere near as confident on that rescue.

[riariadne]

"I'm Lady Charlotte Sidney Montana of Raewald, but usually I just go by Sidney. Niko mentioned you to me, I think," Sidney introduced herself. "Sorry for being so brusque, err... Ratty," she apologized. Adele darted ahead suddenly, and Sidney started walking quicker, but not quite as fast- the darkness lead her to be somewhat more conscious of danger.

[Shin]

Blind Date

Cass' vision came to, the room around her became reasonably clear... or as clear as a room lit by a single lantern could be. The two thugs grinned, one of them sporting a broken nose. "Yah, we be, and we're going to viddy a good clopping." he chuckled.

A young man sat at the other end of the bed, almost looking sick with nerves. It was the young man she'd fought earlier in the week, it was Talmot. He was looking down at his hands, his knees trembling. "I didn't think it would be like this... I was told that she wanted to see me..." he whimpered, his eyes filling with tears. Whoever had schemed this mess had skipped sharing the details with the parties involved. One of the thugs banged his axe against the wall.

"Move in, Gorlois... otherwise we're gonna snap yer cables an' spill some krovvy. Yer baboochka might be losin' 'er gulliver too." he growled, eyeing the pair. Talmot gulped, slowly raising his head, tears dripping down his face. "Princess, I didn't want it like this... they said you wanted to me to see you somewhere secret... I..."

Love's Fury

Leaving Ratty with the others, Adele's mad dash exceeded anything the young woman had ever achieved before. Her legs were swift, powered by the combined passion and fury in her heart. She could see the door, and a light from inside it, but also the silhouettes of perhaps a dozen men, lanturns gently lighting up their features and the damp stone walls. There were a few dead men on the floor, but the living ones seemed rather riled up.

"Where are you, yer bratchny! Drats like a moodge, yer can't fight all of us! We'll clop that dobby smile off yer litso!"

None of them were particularly close to the door, nor really focusing on it. Whatever had caused the fuss was taking their attention.

Rat Utility

Ratty watched as Adele blasted forwards into the darkness. Looking rather puzzled, the man pulled a lighter from his tatty jacket, giving it a few clicks before producing a flame. "We should probably be following hers. Big Stan's got a lot of guys, I don't think she could take them all on." he mumbled, still not comfortable with the situation.

[Ether]

As Adele rounded the corner, she saw light. And accompanying the light, a good deal of men, who had been guarding a door... but weren't, anymore. Something had them riled up, something that had killed their men and seemed to have gotten away from them. Holding her axe to chop down anyone who might notice and try to stop her, the Herman heiress made a mad dash for the open door. With any luck, she could slip by while they searched for the prior attacker... if not, then she'd fight them. At the moment, she felt as though the entirety of her mind, body, and soul were made purely of mad fury. Ten, twenty, it didn't matter, she'd tear through them like a hurricane crashing onto shore on a small fisher's village, if any of them dared stand in her way.

[Dandragon]

"Well at least we got a light, now. Let's get moving." With that, Serge began to pick up the pace. I swear to god, Adele, I'm not letting you die because of this... Even with the light, he still had an incredibly hard time seeing. Sidney had started walking faster, so he followed suit.

[Terrador]

Angus emits a low growl at the approaching crowd--not something he wanted to deal with at the moment. "Ow'n, follow me." He turns, rushing for the door of the Goose, elbow first--courtesy be damned, they were in the way, and they needed to move. Bowling two partially-suspecting patrons over, Angus stands just inside the frame, waiting for Owen (and Emmet, if he was quick enough about it!) to enter.

[Nanami Touko]

"I'll be breaking more than your fat nose once I'm off this bed, you dead weight. Be lucky you're over there." It didn't register there was someone else on the bed until she'd stopped snarling at the thugs, immediately jumping back as far as she could. "T-Talmot? You... You...!" Cass' face twisted into a look of severe anger, mixed in with pity and disgust. She was almost tempted to spit at him through his tears; his feelings meant little to her after what she'd just been through! "How thick do you have to be?" she growled, her voice just above a whisper. "Wanted to see you? I should've swung that axe harder! Maybe some sense would've knocked itself into your dense fucking skull!" She was keeping quiet as to not alert their guards further, but the intensity of her scowl didn't less, and she began to shake-- not with fear.

"You've got one chance to keep your head," she warned, only moving a fraction of an inch closer to him. "That's to get my leg undone and help me kill these men. I promise you," she snarled, the anger rising in her throat, "if you so much as try to touch me, I will break you. We both know I'm stronger than you, and if you attempt to touch me in any way, I will take that hand and snap it. Are we fucking clear? If you're innocent in this, we can talk after, but don't you dare try anything now. You do and you seal your fate." It was taking everything Cass had to not jump at him and start strangling him herself, but the boy was sobbing, and it seemed he wasn't the mastermind. If she removed him, the thugs would probably move in next, and while confident she could take them without a shackle, with one it would be a fairly sad story. Besides, if I kill him now, I kill a lead. This wimpy kid's in over his head, not the one who orders these men around...

[Xinnidy]

Angus was quickly able to make an excuse for himself. "Right, sheesh. Watch out for the people you mess with, Kearney. Let's go inside." It would doubtless be safer there, so he hurried after the squire, hoping to squeeze in through the path he made. I'm going to have to give an explanation for the Raewalden diplomats as well. Tch. I hope they're not in a prying mood.

[Shin]

Misunderstading!

Talmot didn't move, nor lay a finger on Cass. "I received a messenger with what they said was a letter from you..." he replied, wiping his eyes. It didn't look like he was going to get any breaks at all. He'd been tricked into coming here and the princess was ready to cave his face in. There was no running away from this one, the two brutes were far too strong for them to fend off. "It had the royal seal on it, I had no reason to doubt it! It said that you'd been thinking after the fight and wanted to see me as a man and not a fighter... it seemed too good to be true, but I didn't want to disappoint you. I was even picked up by the royal guard..."

The two thugs didn't seem pleased, they were growing impatient. One had a key in his hand, and looking at the shackle, it seemed they needed it to escape.

Looking across firmly at Cass, Talmot whispered. "Princess, I think I have a way to get you free... but you'll need to follow my lead... we need to get the key from them."

Sneaky!

Most of the goons had been caught up in the hustle, leaving Adele to slip through the door. It was a rather narrow complex, although there were halls in all directions. There didn't seem to be anybody around, but it wasn't exactly clear where they'd taken Cass. It would require a bit of snooping and a little time, something that she didn't really have the luxury of.

Crash!

Knocking the men out of the way, Angus was caught on his own feet, tumbling through the door and back into the Lucky Goose. However, he was faced with more bodies, although not of burly street goers - a trio of young noble women. Landing in a heap on the floor, Angus found himself in contact with more skin than he'd ever before. His face was firmly planted on one girl's middle, with the other two women underneath him.

"Sister! I can't get him off, he's heavy!" one cried, struggling from beneath Angus. "I don't think I want to!" another laughed, her voice reverberating across the floorboards. Owen had thankfully avoided the conundrum, but it would probably be just as difficult to explain as the ruckus outside.

[Terrador]

The squire rolls off unceremoniously with a gruff "Sorry", taking post by the door and freeing his tool knife. Nowhere near the kind of kit he'd like to have to scare off a mob, but it was metal and sharp; nobody innocent would be coming through that door. Angus remained preoccupied by the danger, but looking back at Owen, he saw the three women he left a bit trampled. ["I don't think I want to!"? Engel above, of all the times.] Despite himself, he emitted a small chuckle: with Adele and Sidney on the case, those ruffians wouldn't stand a chance.

[Nanami Touko]

"I'd probably be less cross about all of this if the royal guard had picked me up, but I was shoved into a sack and carried here like a log, by men with less than your right to touch me." Cass grit her teeth again, hoping she'd get a chance to beat the shit straight out of the men at the door. Especially the fat nosed one, he'd get his if it killed her. "Well Talmot, if you ever want me to think of you as anything more than a convict, start your lead... But if it involves getting your hands on me, and you get anywhere close to where you shouldn't be... You won't be holding that sword again. Are we clear?" Could she trust him? Probably not. It was difficult to produce tears like he had, not without any prodding, and from what she'd seen of him when they fought, he was not an emotional man. But he's probably going to get closer, if his idea is anything like what I'm thinking it is... If it pulls the guards over, maybe we can do something, but... Trusting Talmot was the hardest decision she had to make, right now... But it was her only chance, lest the guards start forcing things.

"Alright. I'll trust you for now... Go on."

[Ether]

Blast... the whole place was a mess of hallways, some with doors at the end, others branching off. Adele took a moment to take a look, weighing her options. If this was their base, then they would have a place to put her... she'd been decently behind them, so they'd have reached it by now, and it was unlikely they'd drop her in a random hallway. On top of that, it was quite dark, so if they'd taken a particular path, then they would have lit that path. From the looks of it, out of the paths she could see, which appeared to number about a dozen, three had doors with visible light behind them. Well, it was as good a start as any.

Coming up to the closest door, Adele checked the knob. Locked, of course. Bringing her axe down on the knob to break the lock, and kicking the door itself down, Adele was greeted with... a store room full of cheese. That was un-helpful.

Backtracking to door number two, Adele repeated her process, unveiling... another store room, this one stocked with various tools. Another dud... if the third room proved unfruitful she'd need to start searching the hallways, which was not what she wanted to do at all.

Moving back to the main corridor, Adele approached the third lit room, stopping just before the door and taking a deep breath. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, but if she was too hasty and didn't give herself a moment to breathe, this wouldn't end well.

[Shin]

May she have mercy

Talmot gulped, the young man still rather pale from Cass' threats. He considered his options, and being maimed by the princess seemed far better than whatever the two thugs at the back would do. The young man moved closer to Cass cautiously, clearly trying to avoid any real proximity to the girl. Looking like he was about to jump from a bridge,Talmot forced his lips upon Cass', keeping them as tightly shut as possible. Pulling back even quicker than he approached, he raised his hand, still looking rather nauseated. Mustering up what little courage he had in his body, he called out to the guards.

"I can't do it from this angle..." he announced boldly, almost uncharacteristically so. "Come closer, help me turn her over..."

The two goons grinned, looking forward to seeing the main perfomance. Nudging each other, the pair moved in, the axe-less one fiddling with the shackle around Cass' ankle.

Show time!

After her fruitless visits to the other two rooms, Adele was able to ease the door open, revealing what she'd strived to save. Cass was mostly unharmed, laying down in bed next to a young man, with two large ruffians with their backs to her. They certainly didn't look terribly friendly, and the young man seemed to be trying to catch Adele's attention silently.

Fight!

Sidney, Serge and Ratty soon reached the door for themselves, only a few minutes after Adele had done. There were a couple of men still standing amongst a pile of bodies. "We'll viddy yah an' chop yer cables! Yer dead meat!" one cried, swinging wildly into the darkness. Ratty pointed to one in the middle. "That's Big Stan, he's the one calling the shots with the goons."

Big Stan seemed to notice Ratty and Serge, the light removing any sort of stealth they could have had. "Oi, rat face. I knew you'd gob us, I'm gonna 'ave yer gulliver fer this!"

[Xinnidy]

Oh, goodness' sake, Angus. Owen held back a groan as he tried to help the squire up, though quickly Angus showed he wouldn't need the assistance. At least they were finally at the inside of the Lucky Goose now, which would probably be safer for the prince too, all things considered. "Alright, Angus. What do you plan to do?" Owen approached the young squire, keeping his voice low not to attract any more attention. "People are going to have their eyes on you... and there's still the Raewalden people we invited for me to deal with." A sigh escaping him, the prince gave a quick look around just to be sure the commotion wasn't getting past the door. "We could of call the local patrol, but that'd mean going back outside..." His options didn't seem very favorable as of now.

[Ether]

There she was... still mostly clothed, though her dress was a bit worse for wear... there was a man in bed with her, which made Adele's blood boil, but the thugs had to be dealt with first. He would get his, oh yes he would, but... Pushing the door open fully, Adele lunged forward, towards the armed hooligan. Bringing her axe down on his unprotected skull, the man's brains and blood splattered against the wall as Adele followed her axe's momentum, kicking his corpse to the side to rush the other thug and the man on top of Cassandra.

"Get away from her, I'll KILL YOU!" Adeltrudis roared, bloodlust clear in her eyes as she already began swinging at the man approaching Cassandra's shackle.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Satin. Dark Lord of Fabric

[Terrador]

Angus keeps his eyes firmly outside, waiting a moment to rethink his plans. "Same call, I think. Wi' every bit o' respect, my Prince, you shouldn' be movin' withou' as many men as possible a' your side. We stay f'r now; the others'll come back. Folks c'n stare if they like; we've got ever bit of noble word t'say they needed killin', an' my reputation... le's be honest, na terrible importan', eh~?" [Why am I being so damn cheerful? Cass is gone, but Owen's still here, and this can all get sorted. As much of an ass as Sidney is, she's good. Cass will live.] "We could ge' a mage t'fire somethin' skyward, patrol'll see." At the absolute lack of a mob charge, Angus relaxes a little bit; they really did seem to just be curious, or at least they weren't stupid enough to come in.

The squire speaks on impulse, emboldened by the drink. "An' Owen... it'll be fine. Y'know those gals, they're good a' wha' they do."

[Nanami Touko]

Cass didn't like Talmot's plan, not one bit. She was ready to strike him hard when he rushed her, but feeling the skin of his top lip against her mouth, she could tell he'd held a real kiss back. She'd been right about his plan, at the very least, so she resisted the urge to beat him. The nauseated look on his face as he pulled back confirmed things. As he called the guards over, Cass began sizing big nose up. The key went into her ankle's cuff and she felt the lock click-- just as she was about to pounce onto the biggun, he collapsed, which brought a rather dissatisfied look onto her face. What? No! No get up! You don't get to fucking die until I choke the life out of you! It wasn't until she saw why he was dead that her dissent turned into a smile, Adele's axe colliding with the side of the other man, causing him to collapse hard onto the floor in a lifeless lump.

"ADELE!!" Cass practically wailed her name, tears piling up on her face as she scrambled off the bed and threw herself at the woman, squeezing her tighter than ever before. There was nothing else to say. Cass openly started bawling into Adele's shoulder, slamming her fist against her as the rage and fear poured out of her. She didn't know how they'd found her so fast, but it hadn't been fast enough to pluck that growing seed of terror. At the very least, the weed in her mind was gone, but the feelings were still heavy on her, pouring out now that they had an outlet.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Melissa

[Toogee]

As Doug ran after the others through the alleyway, he missed the freedom afforded to him by his shorts and skirt. He would never admit that; those thoughts would remain in his head.

The trail ended with some dead thugs, some live ones that noticed them, and Adele rushing past all of them to get to Cass. The rider found it reassuring that love could swoop in and save the day. He was also relieved that he wasn't in love with Cass, or he'd have to run into an unknown swarm of foes.

Considering he was currently unarmed, Doug stuck to the shadows as Sidney and Serge took on the remaining thugs outside. Stealth was the order of the day; he waited for an opportunity to jump in for a surprise attack and bash someone with his cane.

[Shin]

Adele, an alternative spelling for death

The first thug dropped like a fly, his brains decorating the dirty bedroom floor and wall.

Talmot didn't need to be told twice, the bloodlust in Adele's eyes was enough to give him the idea. It looked like the rumours were true? He'd always heard the Princess and Adele were close, but this seemed beyond that. Rolling off the bed, Talmot tangled his legs with the remaining brute, causing him to stumble as Adele delivered a blow to his neck.

"That ain't dobby... not dobby at all..." he groaned, slumping to the ground.

With Cass free and reunited with Adele, things seemed to be heading in a better direction. There was still the threat of the guards outside, as well as anyone else who was still in the den. Turning around, Talmot wretched, wiping his mouth as he groaned. The bloodshed he could tolerate, but it would be too soon if he spent any time near a girl like Cass.

-

Hello there

The three women picked themselves up off the floor, approaching Angus. One of them gave him a firm slap across the face, almost in league with the beating he'd received earlier.

"Is that how you apologise for knocking us over!" she yelled, stamping her foot. She was probably around Angus' age, if not a little older. With a bright blue bob-cut, it would be hard to miss her in a crowd. One of the others, presumably a little older and with purple hair, pulled the first back.

"I apologise for my sister, her temper sometimes gets the better of her." she apologised, pulling back the other girl. "Morta, the prince is with him, you need to show some manners. If you need a spell cast into the sky, I'd be happy to do it. It wouldn't be much more than a simple fire spell, but that's all you need really."

[Ether]

"Cass..." Adele replied, giving the Princess a pat on the back as she began bawling and wailing into the young Lady's shoulder, before turning her eyes towards the final man in the room. She snarled, using her free hand to lift Cass up beneath her knees, so that she could step forward, still brandishing her axe in her other hand.

"So you're the cheeky son of a bitch who put them up to this." Adeltrudis growled, as she continued walking towards Talmot... luckily for him at least, heavily slowed down by the Princess glued to her front. He seemed to be a bit on the sick side, presumably put off by the blood and violence.

[Nanami Touko]

"N-NO, no! Stop!" she cracked through the bawling, planting her feet down hard and pushing Adele back. She had to take a moment to wipe her face off, still crying, but she wouldn't have been able to talk if she didn't for a moment. "H-He's not! He just g-got suckered into this, okay, he, h-he helped, a few moments ago... The guard w-wouldn't have been trying to get my shackle off otherwise, so d-don't, hurt him." Cass would have been over at the wretching man, thanking him, but she knew that if she left Adele for a moment she might continue to be violent until her words sunk in. "Just, please! Don't...! It was s-someone else, that roped us all into this, so don't hurt him for it! He got a letter, royal seal... He thought this was all legitimate." Which meant that whoever had set this up was someone that had access to something like that... The thought sickens me...

[Shin]

Hidden Tiger

Talmot gulped, he'd heard rumours about Lady Herman, and her outburst seemed to confirm them. She certainly wasn't happy about what she'd seen. Why did this have to happen to him, he'd been strung along just like the Princess, he'd helped even and she was still brandishing an axe at him. It was a horrible misunderstanding, but everyone had always just ordered him around and trodden on him.

There was Captain Hogan, the Kearney guy, the Princess and now Lady Herman. Clenching his fist, the young noble had gotten sick of being bullied, he wasn't going to let this woman abuse him either. Standing up straight, he stood in front of Adele.

"I'm as much a victim in this as anyone else!" he replied boldly, his knees just about keeping him upright. "I was tricked and blackmailed into doing this, and I was doing all I could to help the Princess get out. I don't quite appreciate being called a son of a bitch by an axe wielding psycho!"

He paused for a moment, as if he were processing what he'd just said and how he'd felt. "It's best we leave, I saw a lot of men outside when they brought me here, they're going to notice eventually."

-

Outside

Ratty let out a wail as Stan threatened him, practically shaking in his boots as some of the goons drew closer to Serge and himself. Doug had ample opportuities to trip the brutes up, none of them seemed to be paying attention to him either. It would be a tough fight, but Serge's group would have to do their best. A hand pressed firmly on Serge's shoulder, Adele's butler had shown up, presumably having taken his time to find the den for himself.

"Apologies for the delay, my pathfinding isn't quite as impressive as I'd hoped." he chortled, readying a knife. "I trust Lady Adeltrudis has pressed forwards? I can't imagine she'd wait for anyone to keep pace with her."

More cries could be heard from the rear group of bandits, there was another person fighting them, one who had been causing them trouble from the get-go.

[Ether]

Adele stopped as the both of them spoke, almost in unison. So there was another force behind this after all, huh? Swearing loudly, Adele slammed her fist into the wall.

"So after all this we only get the small fish? Fuck!" Adele continued cursing, dropping her axe as she continued to assail the wall with her injured hand, growling. All they got out of this was that someone had access to a Royal Seal... those that did were few and far between, but also were out of reach to her, for the most part. Calming down after a few moments, Adeltrudis sighed.

"I slipped past them on the way in... they were fighting someone. Sidney and Serge were also following along behind me a bit, so they'll probably come across them soon... Cass, you should be able to use that guy's axe, but can you fight... err, I never caught your name, did I?"

[Nanami Touko]

"T-Talmot?" Cass hadn't expected an outburst like that. He was right, he was just a victim, even if not as much. "I'm sorry," she said, as Adele calmed down, turning to face him. "You're right, I... I was terrified, and, between that and being chained to the bed, I took my fear and anger out on you. I'm not going to hit you, I promise. I'm not even upset at you, I'm just... Glad it was you, honestly." She almost laughed, a scared smile curling onto her face. "If it had been some far less gentle noble, then... Adele may have been too late to do anything. You hesitated, you didn't want to, you helped me get free... If everyone was less on edge I'd be hugging you, right now." She didn't know if her words meant much now, after the verbal beat down she'd laid while chained, but she hoped they did. She didn't hate him; she pitied him for getting stuck in something like this. Like another man I know, getting in over their head.

"I, uh... I don't think I can fight, Adele," she said, still shaking a bit. "I'm still... Rattled, I guess is the word. If I try to fight I'll probably just get in the way. Talmot, if you wish to, I won't stop you, but do try to be safe... We're lucky enough that nothing's hurt us past a few bruises and some emotions." Truth be told, the emotional side of things was hitting Cass fairly hard, but after that outburst, she'd managed to get them contained, for now. "And if you're in no state to, I can at least keep you safe."