The Iron Roses had to move, and they had to move quickly. The cemetary, thankfully, not as far as it could have been had the conspirators choosen a different spot to lurk within. There were two in Aimlenn, the other was further south and typically housed more common folk or those who achieved their status with business, while knights and other nobles were most often interred in this location.

It made it all the more curious that they were able to make their hideout here of all places.

The elaborate gravestones, some depicting Mayon reaching down towards the grave of the dead, a few similarly constructed, but with Reon instead. Others showed family symbols, or conveyed what the dead interred there had done in life. Some were simple, wishing the deceased a good afterlife, and many were adorned with images of Lamplighters and other divine spirits in service of the Goddesses. There were lanterns, flower offerings on many graves, both to help guide the dead to the afterlife and to offer the favored blooms of the goddesses to help ensure the dead made it there.

And then there were the mausoleums. They stood larger then the other graves, and what was visible was only a small component. They stretched underground as well, holding generations of dead. Fanilly admitted, privately, that she found being in a graveyard at night rather disconcerting, but she couldn't show such a thing.

She was Captain of the Iron Rose Knights. Something like this couldn't make her falter.

The Cazt Family's tomb was rather easily-recognized. Above the door was the eight-point star, a symbol of the Cazt family's pride in their martial, magical, and military heritage. As Fanilly knew, each point symbolized something more specific, but she had never learned what. Veilena had refused to allow her father to be interred there, and had stripped him posthumously of his status as a member of their family.

The tomb looked unguarded, from the outside. But gods knew what was going on down there.

Fanilly turned back to the others.

"Our enemies are undead," she began, "They will be less coordinated, but also unable to feel pain. Strike without mercy, cut them down and free them from their wretched enslavement."

The idea of using necromancy to manipulate the bodies of the dead was an abominable thought to Fanilly. Slavery was an abomination, but to reach beyond death and use the bodies of the deceased, disturbing their rest...

The Necromancer would answer for his crimes, one way or another.

But more importantly then that...

"The hostage, if she's still alive, must be rescued," she continued, "Her sister may have attempted an assassination, but she is a victim of a cruel and strange plot. We are the Iron Rose Knights, and we fight for the sake of the crown and for those in need. It is our duty."

Their strategy was admittedly simple. Provided the information still held water, they would cut through the undead, and kill or capture any of the living conspirators that they could.

Now they came to the unguarded doors of the mausoleum.

Next...

It took some effort, but forcing them open did not prove to be impossible.

Immediately a figure clad it tarnished, thin armor lunged for them. It was thin, desiccated, its skin peeling in some places to show bone beneath, its jaw hanging open and gnashing as it raised a jagged blade-

And fell backwards, head taken off in a single swing of Fanilly's blade, the edge cutting through the night air. Its flesh was dry and decayed, but the armor would still be able to put up some resistance if the other walking corpses still possessed any.

Indeed, beyond the doorway, a dozen or so shambling, animated bodies turned to face the knights already. Their empty sockets were alight with an eerie purple glow as they raised swords, spears, axes, and shields.

"Iron Rose Knights! If you can't cut off the head, aim for the arms and legs to disable!" declared Fanilly, "Then cut them all down!"

There was no opportunity to be subtle here.

[@Creative Chaos][@Rune_Alchemist][@Saiyan][@Crimson Paladin][@Psychic Loser][@VahkiDane][@HereComesTheSnow]

[hr]

As three of the Throne Knights, including Sir Adeforth himself accompanied the Princess and the Roses who had chosen to stay behind to defend her headed into the back halls and up the stairways, it was as if they were taking a stroll into history. Portraits of notable figures, and of course the royal family, lined the walls.

One in particular stood at the end of the hall. It was by far one of the largest paintings, depicting a rather striking sight. The first was a scene that every adherent of the goddesses would know. The towering, black knight, a crown of spines rising from his helmet and clutching an enormous sword . A single, ethereal-seeming young woman in armor, clutching a silvery blade. Both of them on a rock jutting high above a plain. The battle raging below.

The Duel between Saint Lilianna and Orodrunn was the end of the war between all peoples of creation and the forces of the second dark lord. She had in the end miraculously shattered the black blade, Angroron, and pierced his armor to slay him. It was a scene familiar to all those who worshipped the Goddesses.

There was a single blank spot on the wall among the portraits of members of the royal family.

Prince Meren, still clad in his gleaming, royal-seeming armor, had butchered his mother, father, and his brothers by surprise in the night, all save his younger sister, whom he had become obsessed with. Elionne challenged him to battle,  In a bout of furious combat after which Meren believed 'he would make his sister his own', Elionne slew the mad Prince by piercing his heart, and the Royal line survived through his younger sister.

The reviled madman's portrait had been removed from the walls and burned long ago.

Elisandre turned to the left, and soon enough they reached her room. Within, it was rather lavish, with a four-poster bed laden with pillows and blankets, a large bookcase full of various volumes, a desk, a body-length mirror, a nightstand, and even access to a balcony. The glass and steel doors leading to the balcony were shut.

Sir Adeforth leaned against a wall, as the other two Crown Knights took positions outside of the Princess's bedroom. He did not need to speak of their failures any longer.

Elisandre, desperate for some form of normal conversation, headed to the bookcase and took a red-bound novel from a shelf.

"S-so, have any of you read Fireheart?"

It was a hundi-written novel, about a young hundi on her coming of age journey. It had become quite popular in recent years.

Maletha, meanwhile, had found her way to the bed and sat down, her arms wrapped around a large plush dragon as she remained staring at the floor.

[@Psyker Landshark][@Raineh Daze][@The Otter]