[center][img]http://orig09.deviantart.net/0fc1/f/2012/226/7/f/7f720cbede625085e7ccd46503c944aa-d5b1ubs.jpg[/img][/center]
[hr]

[color=darkgray]
[center][i]The Crown Jewel of Storia was buzzing with an unusually high level of activity. For the past two weeks ships have been arriving from across the sea dropping passengers of all ships and sizes, at the same time the great caravans have moved across the sand seas moving in towards the capital with them travelers forging a path across the unforgiving sun blasted scape towards the fabled "crossroads of civilization". They all come for the same reason, The Crown Princess of Stoira Ariannona Escaphant Mylene Rosberg was to come of age this day and following old tradition the capital will be filled with revelry and festivities for five days and five nights, and in this short time Dasma will be the greatest shining beacon of civilization in all of Austry. The festivity and joy that comes with them, come at a much needed time for the Kingdom of Storia. The last several years have been hard on the small kingdom caught in the middle of a long and terrible cold war between the Elladein and Arashan Empires. Storia has been the theatre for this play of intrigue serving as the staging ground for a new war between these old foes. But even as the night of the Royal Ball draws close to mark the start of these festivities, a shadow looms over the city. In the dark, a plot brews incited by forces unknown. An assassination has been planned which will drag.... a mixed group of individuals on a rather interesting adventure.[/i][/center]

[center][b]Prologue: A Royal Engagement[/b][/center]
[hr]

The Royal Palace is an ornate affair, a remnant of the old times when Dasma was one of the many Ur'akrathian Imperial Estates, completed in the last days of the fallen empire. Located at the center of the city in the aptly named Palace District it easily towered over any building in the city a brilliant structure made of shining white stone. A testament to the will and reach of the Ur'akrtah Empire having dragged the stone from quarries far across the sea and in the inland of what would become the Arashan Empire. The sheer logistical planning of it all easily dwarfed any "grand monument" built in the modern era. In the current midday sun, the coastal rays bounced across the white surface making the white stone and gold glitter in the light.

An air of excitement mixed with a very real sense of growing hysteria to the point of being almost palatable. All through the past several weeks servants have been coming in and out of the palace at rapid rates carrying large parcels and directing in carriages filled with foreign dignitaries and wagons filled with supplies for the upcoming festivities. Huge galleons pulled into the ports dropping off people and items from afar as the docking spires in the city were constantly filled with airships coming in from across the lands, so many at some points that not even the fierce desert sun could break through at certain locations. The royal guards were working in double overtime, with watch sizes increased and patrols paths doubled over the last few weeks to help maintain order. The Palace District itself was under heavy guard with guards stationed at each of the four main gates only allowing in those with the proper papers to enter be they nobles, workers, servants etc. 

The Merchants flocked down the King's Row setting up their stalls and shops filling the air with the sounds of many different tongues, languages and tones. They were all trying to make a quick sum off of the large influx of new visitors to the city and the King's Row being the main path through Dasma was where these congregation would be the highest. They sold "exotict wonders", panceas, potions, and pots of ornate metals. All yelling to be atop of one another in the sea of noise, all boasting the "best prices in all of Austry"  and all with the hungry hint of greed upon their eyes. 

From above in the Royal Palace looking out through a small viewing window all this chaos and activity looked mute and tiny from so high above to the Princess. Little shapes moving across rows upon rows of streets that looked like the rows of a great vineyard stretching out into the distance. Of course it was hard for her to even focus on the events of the world outside her window due to the swarm of activity around her. She was currently standing on a small elevated platform as five servants moved up about her. It had been like that for the past hour or so, as they continued putting on and taking off gown after dress, after ornate display. Ari found the entire thing to be rather dreadful really, five different dresses for each day of the festival seemed like a rather large amount when she could just wear one, adding in with the fact that well she was a grown woman, she really didn't need the servants to be dressing her still.

[color=f7941d]"It's all just so much."[/color] She spoke to her companion standing next to her observing the chaos as it circled around her. Grunda had been with the Rosberg Family since before Ari's father had been born. A giantess almost eight feet in height, once upon a time she had been the Captain of the Royal Guard but as her age progressed she moved onto a less physically demanding role as the caretaker of the children of the King having done so with Ari, her father and her father's father before him. A moving mountain her face was kind and old hardened over the years and with long white hair braided together and reaching the small of her back. A body of strong muscle and still able to handle any knight in a duel she was a woman of great wisdom and experience. At Ari's voice breaking through the giantess chuckled and put a strong calloused hand upon her shoulder.

[b]"Aye, lass but of course yeh must remember. The festival is more of a display for the foreign powers and the people then it is for the likes of you and I. We are just the puppets playing the show for them."[/b] She was right of course, sure was her coming of age an important moment in her life? Yes but did it require such extravagance? Well that was certainly debateable. But it did show those nobles from across the lands and seas the wealth and power of Storia maybe possibly enticing them to either renew trade contracts or sign military agreements. And it was a moral boost to the people of the kingdom allowing them for the first time in many moons to actually relax and have fun at least. 

[color=f7941d]"Yes, I know of course. It just feels like everything is changing and I don't know how to feel about that."[/color] She told Grunda as she was turned the other way by the servants to view herself in a mirror almost as tall as her companion.  

[b]"Oh little one.... Of course things change. They always change."[/b]
[/color]