Fantasy A Nation In Havoc (2.0)

[Duke of Doge]

Nia opened the hatch "OK OK! By the gods just calm down" she held up her hands to the ones in front of her. "Just hurry up and get in here" she went down the steps and dat down against the wall, her sword resting on her lap as she held the royal crown in her hands, idly turning it in her hands. It was clear the effect today had was weighing heavy on her mind.


TheCountryWarrior Randomfella MagicPenguin @The_Omega_Effect augmentedspartan

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

"Wha-Have you all been ignoring what I was arguing for this whole time?" Decius pinched the bridge of his nose which he accompanies with a sigh. He then figured his companions would enter anyway. He took a step back, allowing for the two to enter before him.


TheCountryWarrior Randomfella MagicPenguin The_Omega_Effect augmentedspartan Duke of Doge

 

[MagicPenguin]

Rae threw the rock away with a huge sigh in visible relief and put the flint back in her pocket. She didn't know if she actually would have done it in the end, but the way she felt at the moment, she wouldn't put it past herself. She snatched the whisky bottle back from Decius, whom she left it with when she knelt to get the rock. "I need this, Bear."

She didn't pay much mind to the old timer who wandered in. The party just kept getting bigger. What was one more? She climbed down into the cellar, found an empty spot, sat down with a thump and took a big gulp straight from the bottle.

The_Omega_Effect TheCountryWarrior Duke of Doge Randomfella augmentedspartan

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

"Thank the damned Maker!" Armandio was doing his best to be first when an abrupt question echoed through the building. Armandio spun on his heel, hand hovering over his scabbard. Thankfully it was some old dude, though Armandio couldn't help but feel uneasy when looking at him. It was probably just that all the chaos had him on edge. "Howdy old timer. As long as you aren't aiming to murder us, you might as well come in. Anything we can help you with?"

augmentedspartan
MagicPenguin Duke of Doge
The_Omega_Effect Randomfella

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

After the two had entered, Decius got in the basement and the closed the hatch. "Sorry for your loss, princess." He uttered with a respectful bow. He then slowly sat down next to Raimi, observing the rest of the basement. He waved his hand to the old man and then saw a creature that he had not seen in a while. It was a halfling. The other woman in there with the princess was a halfling. He was a bit perplexed at first but then it just got placed in his mind right next to the thousand fucked up shit he had seen before.


TheCountryWarrior Randomfella @MagicPenguin The_Omega_Effect @augmentedspartan Duke of Doge

 

[Randomfella]

"Oh yeah, just invite anyone you want down here, that's great." Jenny sarcastically spoke up to the would be knight, placing her hand on her face as the princess let in those who literally just threatened to burn her alive. Even if their plan was foolish and would not work, it was the notion that was important, it made the halfling wonder exactly how many branches the Davion family tree had. Her crossbow was still pointed toward the aggressive girl and the large man next to her. "Leave your weapons to the side, and try not to touch anything." She noted moodily. At least they hadn't simply lopped the damned princesses' head off, though she supposed there was still time.

Spoiler

Candles lit up the sides of the basement, in the centre was a large operating machine, the sound of gears and blowing steam audible to a great degree. Around the sides of the rooms were various tables filled with schematics, tools, parts, and unfinished projects. Jenny buckled in pain for a short moment, clenching her bleeding back with her left hand, her right still on the trigger, a short groan escaping as she closed her eyes for a split second, before returning to her vigilant watch. "You're a fool, you know that?" She spoke up once more, directing her attention to the strange girl. "If it wasn't for the princesses' stu... Stupendous mercy, you all would have been left out there due to your nonsensical threats." She quickly changed what she was about to say, probably not best to go off at the princess considering what had happened to her. Not long after, the sound of ash pattering onto the ground could be heard, followed by a few goblin screams muffled by their domain. "The greatest engineer in the city worked on this room, you'd have better luck breaking into the castle." Jenny noted, her tone almost in a chuckle, yet the pain and following coughing prevented her from keeping a smug demeanour.

@all

 

[MagicPenguin]

The stunted dwarf child asked quite impolitely for Rae to hand over her weapons while she (also quite impolitely) levelled a crossbow in Raimi's face.

"No." She said simply in response. She took another swig from her bottle.

Then the girl went on and on about how she would've left her out there and the princess was stupid or stupendous or something else along those lines. Blah blah blah.

"If you had just opened the hatch from the start, none of that unpleasantness would have been necessary. What I did was no more or less than you were willing to do to us by leaving us up there. People do desperate things when their lives are on the line. I'm willing to forget about it and let bygones be bygones if you are. Provided, of course, that you stop pointing that monstrosity at me and my friend here," she said as she gestured to Decius.

"By the way," she said and threw a nasty look at George, "thanks for your help back there, 'pal,' I really appreciate it. Your brother at the Brazen Fox never would've done that to helpless strangers looking for shelter. See if you ever get any business from me again, you spineless coward."

George stared back blankly.

"Ugh. Whatever." She took yet another big gulp from the bottle.

Raimi paid the woman-child and the traumatized innkeeper no more mind.

She then got up and walked over to the princess. She offered her bottle to Nia.

"Here. Thanks for our lives, Your Majesty."

She gave Nia a small bow.

"You could probably use this even more than I could, and that's really saying something. How did this day get so messed up?"

Randomfella Duke of Doge The_Omega_Effect TheCountryWarrior augmentedspartan

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia looked up to the ceiling, and pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. On top of everything that had just happened, everyone in this room was hostile. Everything she had ever known was gone, her father, her home, her livelihood. All of it was gone... so the water works started to flow again, tears began to roll down her cheeks again. She felt alone. Alone in an unknown world where the rules don't apply. She softly cried for minutes.

Nia then looked up at Raimi and took the bottle. "Yeah." Her voice was devoid of emotion as she took a swig of the liquid. It burned her throat, and Nia was soon coughing and wincing at the sensation. "I don't think I can even drink this" she said with a sad chuckle at her own problems.
@all

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius tried his best to carefully slung his axe over his back without harming anything. He had to be somewhat crouched to even stand in that basement. "I do not think there is enough room for me use such a large weapon as my axe. The threat would not be from my axe if you are worried." Decius then leaned back and watched as Raimi took drink after drink. He hesitated to stop her from drinking herself unconscious in an urgent time like this. He realised that there was tension to be relieved first above everything. He still knew that they had to leave sooner or later and if he had the choice it would be the former. It was actually a good thing that Decius had fought and murdered all of those goblins earlier. That meant that the axe's thirst for violence, which was growing for a better part of a week, was sated for the time being. "I've only ever met 2 halflings before. Although, the circumstances were a lot different. So, does the greatest engineer in the city have a name?" He then noticed that the halfling had clenched for her back and was attacked. "You're wounded."

@errybody

 

[augmentedspartan]

Whatever 'in' was, he wanted nothing to do with it. Waving away at the man who had addressed him, he watched as the group went down the hatch and closed it. Probably not the best time to host an underground sex dungeon, but it was none of his business. Walking around the scattered debris, and away from the hatch before any weird noises started, he searched for any sign of Jania, hopefully still in one piece. He didn't manage to find much, and soon enough he heard the sound of goblin feet racing down the stairs. Great, add murder to the list of possible outcomes. The footsteps reached a crescendo before stopping next to him, where four goblins stared at him with confusion which quickly turned into murderous glee.

"I know that look," Ambrose started before they could do anything. "Back off, I'm the Corpse Holder."

The goblins stopped grinning and shifted from looking at each other in confusion to looking at him in suspicion. "Corpse Holder?" one of the goblins managed to get out with difficulty.

"Yeah, I sell your boss corpses, and as a reward he told me to tell you to leave the fuck alone."

The goblins kept looking at each other and him, trying to silently decide what to do. Figuring that it was better to let some old man go free than to possibly kill one of their master's trader, they walked around him and searched the room for more victims before leaving the inn.

Ambrose turned back to the stairs and hoped that he wouldn't actually find Jania, because the only way she was up there would be as a corpse, ironically enough. Well, if he was going to find his workers dead, he might as well do it sooner than later. Going up the stairs he started to check on each rooms. Most were empty of people, with only the post-loot chaos remaining. There were a few victims in some rooms, but they were none that he cared about. Eventually he found a room with two dead goblins, as well as Jania's and Lewis' corpses.

He stared at them for a moment before saying, "Fuck." It encapsulated his current mood quite well.

Exhaling through his nose in annoyance, he glared at the corpses angrily, obviously they should have done a better job at not dying. He knelt down next to them and started to rummage for the notebook each kept. He didn't bother to check for a pulse because one had a knife through the throat and the other's head was a meter away from the body. Thankfully they had kept the booklets with them, so he wouldn't be leaving empty-handed. He walked down the stairs bickering to himself about 'psychopathic wizards with repressed childhood traumas' and 'dodgy murder cults for inbreed morons'.

@Thegang

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio shrugged, not looking to retry sparking conversation with the old man. He glanced around the basement, quite impressed with the various improvements made upon a basic cellar, though he had no clue what a lot of it did. He didn't even acknowledge the request to drop his weapons, instead taking a corner for himself and sliding down the wall into a sitting position. He looked around at the party they had amassed, though his thoughts were on his grandfather. Had that random gorilla succeeded in saving his grandfather? Where were they now, the weird jungle world that made up his house and surrounding houses? Armandio sighed. What the hell is happening?

augmentedspartan
MagicPenguin Duke of Doge
The_Omega_Effect Randomfella

 

[MagicPenguin]

"It gets easier after you take a few sips," Rae said, "trust me. You can keep the bottle."

Rae felt a pleasant warmth running through her from the alcohol and let it embrace her. She closed her eyes, let the tension seep out of her weary limbs, and took a deep, relaxing breath. The whisky had certainly done its job about taking the edge off after a nightmarish day, though she still had plenty of worries swimming around inside her head and one in particular above all others that she was still doing her best to suppress. Still, it was nice to take a load off for just a moment.

Then, the goblin sounds from up above stopped. Curious at the sudden change, she looked around and noticed with concern that old man from earlier hadn't joined them. Uh-oh. Had those goblins gotten him? Was he being eaten alive right at that moment? Shouldn't she hear horrible screaming rather than sudden silence? Raimi tried to focus her hearing on the area above the basement to see if she could make out the sound of goblins eating some poor, old man, but it was difficult to hear above the whirring of the machinery strewn throughout the basement, especially through the steel hatch. She left the princess with the whisky and moved closer to the door to improve her chances of hearing what was happening. It was faint, and muffled, but she was just able to make out the sound of voices in conversation.

"...Corpse Holder?" she heard a guttural voice ask. A goblin. So they were still up there after all.

"...yeah, I sell your boss corpses and, as a reward, he told me to tell you to leave me the fuck alone..."

The tension Rae had managed to shake off earlier came rushing back to her. Oh, dammit, she thought. Now one of that psycho wizard's friends is up there and I have to do something about it. Couldn't she just relax for two seconds? She almost wished she hadn't overheard that. Almost.

"Bear, Armandio, come over here, quick." she said in a low voice. She didn't really know the two of them any better than the other occupants of the basement, but she'd been with them longer than the others now and had fought with both to survive, so she felt more comfortable confiding in them than in George, the princess, or the halfling (as the Bear called her).

"Listen close," she said pointing to the hatch. "That old man wasn't just an old man. He told those goblins he knew their boss. He said he gave him dead bodies. That can't be good. What should we do, do you think? Run up there and grab him?"

Rae stopped as she heard the sounds of heavy footsteps retreating for the inn's front door. The goblins had actually listened to him and left; this old guy really did have some kind of clout with the wizard, then. Next, softer, slower steps made their way in the direction of the stairs. The old man was going to the second floor? That seemed dangerous given how unstable the building was, but it also meant they had time to figure out if it was worth abducting him before he came back down.

@TheGang
@Scooby-Doo
The_Omega_Effect TheCountryWarrior Duke of Doge augmentedspartan Randomfella

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Meanwhile, in the stadium...

Kruziik chuckled. The old man was on his way. The king is dead. All was going according to plan. Now he just had to wait for the heads of the various chapters around the world to arrive. If they managed to leave on time, and their journey was uninterrupted, they will arrive at midnight. He made his way back to the castle, which he had saved with a force field. The entire place was filled with Goblins and others that had taken this opportunity to gain power and not die. Nobles, peasants and the like, all gathered in the castle to pay homage to their new god. Kruziik sat upon the throne and gazed at their awaiting eyes... and smiled. Now began the hard work of dividing the city among those he deemed worthy.

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio jolted up, he hadn't realized he was halfway asleep, when his name was called. He made his way to who was basically their boss and listened up. "I say let's do it. If he did sell corpses to murder Wizard, he might know what Kruziik plans to do with them. At the very least we can kill him for being an accomplice."

augmentedspartan MagicPenguin Duke of Doge The_Omega_Effect Randomfella

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius was not sure giving the princess a bottle of hard liquor was a good idea at all. Having the only hope of the kingdom turn into an alcoholic would only mean bad news for them. But he went over to Rae in order to hear what she had to say or what plan she proposed to them anyway. "And then do what with him? If the mage is his ally, then he most likely has magical influence over him meaning that we could be grabbing something which he can channel his magic through. And what would we even do with him if we grabbed him? Keep him with us as a prisoner? You saw how he threw all those goblins and warriors at us like cannon fodder. He clearly does not care about those who follow him. What makes you think that capturing this man will give us any benefit or leverage over the mage?" Decius then crossed his arms and then continued. "Unless he had some use to us other in terms of having a set of skills we could use, I think we should prioritise our survival and then worry about some other old man afterwards."

MagicPenguin TheCountryWarrior

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just following her orders," he pointed a thumb in The Huntress direction, "because she seems to be in charge right now."

MagicPenguin The_Omega_Effect

 

[MagicPenguin]

Raimi closed her eyes in thought as she considered Decius's arguments.

"It's not about grabbing him for leverage, Bear. It's about information. We have no idea what the shady elf mage is planning. The opportunity to question one of his friends could be valuable if we can figure out anything at all about what we're up against here. You're right he could be a mage and that's dangerous, but it's not too big a risk if we're careful about it. We can bind his hands so he can't wave them and threaten to slit his throat if he starts making magic-y noises."

The old man would probably be plodding back down the steps any moment. They didn't have much more time to debate.

"If you guys think it's too dangerous, I won't insist, but you can't deny he could know something useful about this mess. I say we put it to a vote."

She then put her hands in a thumbs up gesture and put it in the middle of the little huddle they'd formed among the three of them.

"I vote that we grab him and bring him down here for questioning."

TheCountryWarrior The_Omega_Effect
Duke of Doge
Randomfella
augmentedspartan

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia slowly stood up. Downing one more swig of whiskey before meandering over to the group at the hatch. "If this guy helped kruzik in any way. That means he helped the man who ruined my country. Makes him a traitor in my book." She put her hand on the hilt of her sword. "Traitors are normally executed." She paused"However. We do need information... we just have to make sure he doesn't escape and tell his boss where we are. So yeah. Let's capture him."
@youguys (just woke up, too tired to actually tag)

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio nodded his affirmation, and added his thumb to the center of their huddle. "I agree. Of course their are several ways to do that: an all out assault, a sneak attack. What'll we do?"
@frickidontknow

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius sighed in response to the three deciding that it would be best to capture the man. He did not know much about magic. But he did know that more powerful it gets, the more unbelievable things it is able to do. That man could be used as some sort of gateways for the magic of the wizard. But at this point, the matter was no longer in Decius' hands, especially since the princess had decided. He them chimed in with an idea on how to capture the man. "If we really are going to go through with this, then I suggest we make as less sound as possible. Like I have said many times before, if one measly goblin finds out that we are here, soon enough an entire small army will be smashing away at that hatch, waiting to kill us."

Duke of Doge
MagicPenguin
Randomfella
augmentedspartan
TheCountryWarrior
The_Omega_Effect

 

[MagicPenguin]

Rae nodded. Their course of action was decided, and none too soon. The old man's footsteps could be heard once more descending the steps. Rae spoke quickly and quietly.

"Okay, we do this quick and quiet. Here's the plan: I'm going to unlock this thing when his footsteps get closer to the hatch. When I do, Bear, Armandio, you pop out quick as possible, grab him before he can make any noise, and pull him back down. I'll hold it open until you have him back through and then I'll close it and lock it up again. Princess, while they do that, find some rope. Once he's down here, we'll bind his arms nice and tight-like. Armandio, we'll need you to keep a knife at his throat. Make it clear you'll only use it if he starts making noises like he's casting a spell. Everyone clear?"

The footsteps started making their way closer to the hatch. "On three, guys," she said as she put her hand on the lock and prepared to push the hatch open.

"One." the steps came even closer.

"Two." The man was close enough now that they could hear him muttering something about "psychopathic wizards with repressed childhood traumas" and "dodgy murder cults for inbred morons." Colorful.

"Three!" she said, a little louder, as she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

TheCountryWarrior The_Omega_Effect Duke of Doge augmentedspartan Randomfella

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Decius waited for Raimi's count patiently. He had already visualised exactly what he wanted to do and knew how to do it. He tightly gripped his axe and waited. He then slowly got closer to the hatch alongside Raimi. Once she had signalled him and opened the hatch, Decius immediately pulled himself up to a point where he could see the old man. He got his axe out and then he threw his axe quite a bit away to the left of the man. Before it could leave his hand however, Decius grabbed the very end of the handle. And then he moved the massive blade of the axe behind the man, trapping his legs with the giant curve under the blade. The man fell on the ground as a result of Decius pulling him towards the hatch. When he was in his arm's reach, he simply grabbed the man and then threw him inside the basement. He then looked around one more time to make sure nobody saw, and then close the hatch behind them.


Duke of Doge
MagicPenguin
Randomfella
augmentedspartan
TheCountryWarrior
The_Omega_Effect

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Armandio lifted the old man against the wall and slithered around him, holding him in an iron grasp with a dagger to his neck and a hand over his mouth. "Keep quiet, and you'll keep your throat."

Duke of Doge
MagicPenguin
Randomfella
augmentedspartan
TheCountryWarrior
The_Omega_Effect

 

[augmentedspartan]

Ambrose didn't didn't have time to utter his surprise before he was thrown into the room and held at knife-point. Honestly, it was a minor miracle that he hadn't broken any bones when landing on the ground, although now the man holding him might just end up breaking his neck with how roughly he was holding him.

"Hu ghu ghug," was all he managed to say. Great, he survived the bombing and the goblins, but he was going to be murdered by the next bunch of crazies.

Duke of Doge
MagicPenguin
Randomfella
TheCountryWarrior
The_Omega_Effect

 

[MagicPenguin]

Raimi flashed a winning smile at the old man with the knife to his throat.

"Alright, old man, we heard you talking with those goblins up there. 'Corpse Holder,' was it? You gave that freakshow court wizard dead bodies to help him orchestrate this insanity, apparently, so now you're going to tell us what he's planning to do next and what we can do to stop him. Give us the information we want, and I promise you'll be fine. Probably.

If we think you're lying or holding anything back, though...well, my friend with the knife there behind you might not like that very much. I advise you to tell us what we would like to hear."

Where was the princess with those ropes? The man's hands were still unbound. Well, he wasn't trying to do anything with them right now and Armandio still had the knife on him in case he tried, so maybe it didn't matter that much. Still, better safe than sorry. Hopefully she came to tie him up like a pig set to roast sooner rather than later. This guy had shifty, intelligent eyes and he didn't look like the sort who would stop looking for ways to escape if he was given half a chance.

"Let's start simple. Why don't you tell us a bit about the bodies you gave the wizard. How many did you give him and what did he do with them? Whether or not you leave with all your body parts in tact depends on how useful your answers are, so I suggest you provide as many details as your no doubt sterling memory can drudge up, Grandpa."

augmentedspartan The_Omega_Effect TheCountryWarrior Duke of Doge Randomfella