This is my most recent post in my Discord group for my players.  If you require something different, please let me know.


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[b]The Most Dangerous Game...[/b]


Dreamer's advances worked the Magistrate over soundly.  Filled with ideas over what kind of fun he might be up to later that night, he asked them to wait for him while he made the arrangements.  Minutes later he returned.

"Well, His Majesty Villers did resist at first... but he suggested a wonderful idea.  Wait right here."

The mages were still present at the party and kept a wary eye on Dreamer, however she would not feel their oppressive counter spells anymore.  She had won them over, after all.  The Magistrate went to one of them and spoke softly.  The mage nodded then performed some manner of hand movements.

"Now hear this, noble Lords and Lady's," the mage spoke.  His voice, surprisingly, boomed as if augmented by a bull horn and easily cut through the noise of the gathering.  "An impromptu tour of the city has been praposed by our generous King.  Our very own Magistrate shall lead any who wish to observe the festivites and plays going on in the Inner City."

One older couple, clearly filthy rich, and two younger adults stepped forward to join this tour (( along with any player characters who might take fancy to the idea)).  The younger one seemed eager to find more adventure in this dying land.  The next oldest was dressed more plainly and wore a beautifully crafted rapier on his hip.  The older man and his wife had sharp, hawkish features and clear, intelligent eyes.  All but the youngest seemed relatively sober.

"I'll take my guard," the older man said to his fellows as they gathered.  "Let your men enjoy the party."

The one with the rapier cracked a playful grin and replied, "I haven't need for a guard.  But feel free to bring some along if you are feeling insecure."

"Harumph," the elder noble said, deliberately drawing out the sound in feigned indignity.  This earned a chuckle from the one with the sword.

"I do enjoy 'mingling' with the peasantry," said the youngest.  He was near his mid twenties.  "Like it or not, our power is built upon their backs.  Might as well get to know some of them."

The older noble rolled his eyes but said nothing.  The swordman chuckled and gestured toward the Magistrate.  Eyes soon fell upon Niska and Dreamer.

"Oh," said the younger one.  "I might have to petition to relax the laws against demons in my county."  They all shared a chuckle at that.

Together, they left the castle.  In the courtyard they met up with five gaudily dressed guards in black and deep blue fluffy uniforms.  Their helmets sported similarly colored feathers standing straight up, some of which were tall enough that their own weight made them droop.  They had brilliantly shiny half plate for armor and halberds for weapons with a backup long-bladed dagger for each of them.  By contrast, the two Kingsguard who fell in with the Magistrate were quite plainly dressed in their red and black robes over half plate, shields and long spears.

A retainer met with the swordsman and helped him to don a thickly padded gambeson.  It had intricate designs embroidered on it and, while gaudy, it was downright modest next to the flashy guards.

"My dear," the Magistrate said to Dreamer while offering her his arm.

As they walked, the swordsman found his way to Niska's side.  He looked her over closely before asking, "Not used to a dress, are you?"

The tour would take them all over the Inner City.  They stopped at the few fine drinking establishments and even more of the temporary roadside ones.  They ate food meant for the 'lower castes' and watched plays put on by people for donations.  Musicians played and people danced.  The younger noble seemed to have a knack for starting up a song whenever they stayed at one watering spot for too long and the festive mood seemed even to infect the older two.  At the main square, a significant band had been set up with expensive strings and sparkling brass.  They played music for the noble's pleasure.  The couple danced at their own pace.  The Magistrate "insisted" Dreamer come dance with him while the swordsman quietly surmised that Niska probably wasn't in the mood.  Instead, he offered to share with her some chocolate and honey dipped fruit he bought from a local stall.

Their adventure would continue with time for breaks in between.  Naturally, the men would make advances on the women but they were far too well mannered to do anything serious in public.  As the day grew long and night approached, the festivities would continue.


[b]Back at the Party...[/b]


There was simply no way to miss the tour group's departure.  Jackson, Zan and Sterling would know without a doubt what was going on.

Near to roughly three on the sun dial was when the basement was unofficially opened for visitations.  At around five was when people began to wonder off to their own devices, often pulling one of the wayward women with them.  Some went down stairs.  Some went to quite corners of the castle.  Others went to the luxurious hotel standing in the courtyard of the castle.  Many remained at the party.

By now, there were a fair few guards, nobles and retainers alike who had been thoroughly liqured up.  Despite this, the Hecatate guardsmen were (reasonably) alert and sober.  The Hecatate Kingsguard (who were nealy indistinguishable from normal guardsmen) remained buzzkillingly alert and dutiful.


[b]In the Dead of Night...[/b]


The stars shone brightly even through the slowly rising smoke of hundres of Safety Board Approved Non-Tipping braziers and Construction Code Compliant hearths throughout the city.  While city ordinance prohibited loud activites during the Peace of the Traveler, on this night there were still many quite celebrations taking place.  Even so close to midnight, some were up playing board games, sharing stories, practicing making babies or competing for the worst possible hangover in the morning.

A woman with long, striking silver hair in form-fitting half plate could be seen walking down the long, dusty road to the city.  She rested a heavy looking greatsword over her shoulder.  A helmet with the features of a snarling wolf was tethered to the back of her belt.  Not far behind her were dozens of horse-drawn wagons.  They all moved at a leasurely pace, growing inexorably closer to the last bastion of civilization in North Hectate.


[b]At the Gate House...[/b]


Draco would hear a challenge from the guard at the gate.  Something in the man's tone might have caught the dragon's interest.  There was tension in his voice and maybe just a little bit of fear.

"Yes, right his way," said the guard, now slightly closer.  Foot steps sounded all the way up to the door of the holding cells and then the door was pushed open quietly.  The same guard who had stopped Draco when the dragon had carried Alani into the city stepped inside.  Behind him was a woman with possibly the fiercest scowl Draco had ever seen on a person.

There were three other guards in the holding area at that time.  They were seeing to the many drunks who had been brought in to sober up after too much partying.

"Well...  There he is," the gate gaurd said, turning back to the lady and gesturing toward Draco's cell.  He seemed wary of the woman but clearly thought of her as an ally.  Outside there was a soft cry of surprise, a brief struggle and then the muffled, sickly sound of a neck being twisted far beyond its capacity to endure.  Following that was the sound of feet racing into the gate house itself and up the stairs.

"What-"

The gate guard never got to finish his question as the Silver Lady brought her sword around, holding it with one hand on the handle and the other at the middle of the blade, and impaled him in the lower sternum.  Neither his chain armor nor his rib cage resisted the sudden thrust.  He let out a wheezing gasp of surprise, skipped pain and went straight into shock.

Vistra, the Silver Lady, stared into his confused eyes as she lifted him, with some effort, clear off of his feet and into the air.  She held him there until the light in his eyes grew dark then tossed him - and the sword - over her shoulder.  There was a clatter of man and metal against the stone floor.  She clenched her fists tight enough to cause some of her knuckls to pop and then began advancing upon the rest of the guards.

They abruptly snapped out of their stupor when one of them yelled, "Oh shit!  S-sound the alarm!"

There was no way out of that room except through her.  When she neared the first one, he lunged at her with his short spear.  Although he managed to strike her, Vistra's armor was more than enough to deflect the spear tip.  The other two guards held back, having been rattled by her opening action.

Vistra retaliated by grabbing the edge of his shield and throwing it to the side, nearly dislocating his arm in the process.  She stepped in close and unleashed a flurry of open-clawed strikes to his chest up to his neck ending with an open-palm strike up into his nose.  The guard's helmet toppled off after his head snapped back then he fell to the floor in a heap.  She swiftly stepped over the fallen man to engage the next guard.  Sparks flew from the buckle of one guard's shield as he desperately used it to deflect one of her clawed swipes.  The other was not so lucky and ended with his throat being opened by a swift thrust.

The guard attacked, frantic now after watching his fellows die so suddenly.  His first thrust with the spear glanced off of her armor.  She deftly stepped outside of the second thrust then tackled him under his weapon arm.  He slammed against the cell then cried out in sheer, pain-induced panic as Vistra produced a dagger and slowly forced the blade through his chain mail into his abdomin.  His voice cut off abruptly as his diaphragm was punctured.

She watched him until it was clear the man was dead.  Then she extracted her knife and used his robes to clean it.   The fight, from the first kill until the final stab, lasted all of thirty seconds.

She went back to gather her sword then stepped lightly to Draco's cell.  With one mighty swing, she sundered the locking mechanism then kicked the cell door open.  There was an acrid stench in the air from the sparks kicked up by her sword.  Although he might not be an expert with metals, he would realize that a sword wasn't supposed to just slice through iron bars.

"You have much to do," she said.

Without another word, Vistra hefted her sword back to her shoulder and walked out of the bloody detention hall.

There was a sound of hammers against wood from the guard station above him along with confused shouts.  Some manner of liquid was spilled, then came the sound of fire.  The shouts became more frantic and alarmed and somebody began kicking at a door.  There was more movement outside in the street.


[b]Just Down the Street...[/b]


Convel was lightly snoozing on one of the chairs with his feet propped up on a low table.  He had opted not to crawl into the same bed as Kit.  He wasn't sure if Jackson had noticed but the foxkin sometimes had night terrors.  The sounds she made bothered him immensely.

Kit, meanwhile, had been awake since dusk.  She had busied herself with taking the fancy red dress of hers apart and neatly wrapping the resulting budle of fabric up for transport.  She was in her normal travel clothes by now with her gear ready to go at a moment's notice.  A sound of foot steps from outside drew her attention, causing her to pause and listen.

Foot steps in a city were common however the tempo of these sounded... purposeful.  There was also a great many of them for this time of night.

The patch of fur on the back of her neck and at the top base of her tail stood on end and her eyes widened.  She lept to her feet and silently stepped to the window.

"Convel," she whispered.

"Hmmhnn...?"

"Trouble."

And like that he was standing with his sword in hand before even coming fully awake.  She liked that about him.  He looked around, found no immediate threat then crept over to where Kit stood.

"Oh shit," he breathed.

Outside, they caught a firing line of ten archers in the street facing the inside of the gatehouse.  Each wrapped an arrow head with cloth then knocked them while one person moved down the line with a flask of lamp oil.  As they prepaired, a steady line of infantry flowed swiftly into the inner city.  They moved at double-time and with a purpose.

Convel dashed away from the window and began putting his armor on.  Kit stayed by the window.  As she watched, the archers set fire to the cloth, drew their bows, aimed for the guard house and loosed their arrows into the narrow opening of the window covers.  Smoke was already bellowing out from the guard station by this point from a fire that seemed to have been started from inside.  The archers didn't bother for a second attack and began double-timing it deeper into the city.

Kit hissed in a breath and her ears went flat as she saw Vistra leave the gate house and begin walking toward the castle.

If there was anybody else in the suite with them, Convel would rouse them and order them to get ready for a fight.

"Meet me down stairs.  I am going to get Draco out of there.  Kit, get the wagon ready.  Get supplies.  Kill who you have to but get us ready to move."


[b]In the Outer City...[/b]


Bells began to toll urgently, dragging Elendil out of the depths of his slumber.  More could be heard across the city as fire were set.  Oddly, out of all the bells he heard, not a sound came from the gate house or the garrisons and gaurd posts scattered around.

"The lumber store is ablaze!  Get up!  Get up!  Put out the fire!"

The shouting was coming from outside.  First responders rushed toward the fire.  The lumber stores, as Elendil might have learned while looking for work, were staging grounds for construction on the outer wall.  There was a lot of lumber in those depots.  But that was only the closest of the blazes afflicting the city.  The sky was illuminated by fires raging at the lumber depots, the food stores, the gate house and various other warehouses storing non-perishable goods.

"Where's the guard!  Everybody!  EVERYBODY!  Grab bucket and water!  Go, hurry!"

"Oh shit!  There's a fire at the castle!"
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