Phrenesis
A cold breeze rushed through the once bustling streets of Jabari, the usually crowded market square was empty aside from a few huddled figures rushing one way or another. Ever since the imprisonment of Earl Desjardins tensions had risen and events had begun to spiral wildly out of hand. The Elvish and Fae communities were at each other’s throats, several ‘incidents’ serving to add fuel to the volatile situation. The Earl and his cook were imprisoned within dungeons below the city barracks, his wife the Lady Desjardins was furious with the Fae community and had orchestrated a boycott of all Fae goods and services, the ramifications of which would soon have an effect on not only the city but the other numerous cities and towns which relied on the trade goods of Jabari to survive and flourish. There had also been several assaults on both elf and fae alike, each group blaming the other for the provocations.
A slim clocked figure made her way through the baron streets, a smug grin covering her features which were hidden in shadows. Making her way directly to the largest and grandest of the elvish manors that dominated the Starlight district she wasted little time on pounding on the heavy oak door that belonged to Lady Desjardins before she removed the hood that covered her features. Several moments later the door opened a crack and a bleary pair of eyes gazed out at her suspiciously before opening slightly wider, revealing an elvish butler who had obviously been dozing.
He tried several times to dismiss her, but the woman’s pleading wouldn’t cease. As soon as she mentioned that it was about the Earl and the poisoning he immediately ushered her inside before seating her in a lavish room filled with all kinds of luxuries, instructing her to wait whilst he fetched Lady Desjardins. As she waited she glanced around, unimpressed at the display of wealth, resisting the urge to steal or break some kind of valuable object.
Several minutes later footsteps approached and Lady Desjardins entered the room, her face was gaunt and tired and showed that she too was receiving a lack of sleep, however her graceful and beautiful features were hardly marred.
“You said you have news regarding what has happened to my husband?” she asked flatly, her eyes showing how desperate she was for any news. Phrenesis couldn’t help but think how easy this all was as he manipulated the events around him with such ease.
The woman nodded slowly before confessing passionately to Lady Desjardins about how she worked in the bakery in Tariq where the Earl had ordered his food from, she continued to confess through carefully orchestrated tears how a rather cruel and brutal fae from Eadric had come to the bakery and forced them to add something to the goods they sent to the earl, threatening her life if her father ever spoke of it or told anyone of the Fae’s involvement. She finished her teary confession rather convincingly by telling the Lady how she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer knowing that the Earl had been imprisoned un-justly, even if it meant risking her own life.
Lady Desjardins face darkened and anger played across her delicate features. Standing suddenly she barked to the elvish butler “Wake my household guard. All of them. We are going to free my husband and right this injustice immediately. Also send a rider to our king, I will compose a letter which must reach him as soon as possible.”
Lady Desjardins turned back to the girl before taking her hands in her own and saying “Thank you, I know how difficult it must have been for you to tell me this. Stay here as long as you need, Lauranthil here will see to any needs you have. You will be rewarded for your loyalty”. Lady Desjardins gave her hand a comforting squeeze before she stood and made her way brusquely out of the room.
Several minutes later Phrenesis was stood in a guest room, watching through a window as several guardsmen led by Lady Desjardins mounted horses and rode out into the streets, heading directly towards the city barracks. Grinning widely she sat on the bed before reaching into the cloak that she wore before pulling out a small thin vile of a deep coloured yellow liquid. Giggling to herself she pulled free the little stopper and knocked the liquid back in one gulp before she lay back in the bed. If this body needed sleep it would get sleep, the concoction she had just consumed being enough to put her into a deep slumber for about twelve hours. As long as he returned to the body before then there would be no problems, and he knew exactly how to pass the time. She continued to giggle as the feelings of sleep soon overtook her, and as soon as her eyes shut Phrenesis forced himself to leave her body, the familiar and unpleasant feeling of such a separation gripping him as he returned once more to his free-flowing natural form, now airborne and invisible to the naked eye as his consciousness floated out into the corridor and made its way down the grand staircase searching for Lauranthil the butler.
Lauranthil
The fog lifted from Lauranthil’s mind as suddenly as it had appeared, the elf standing confused and dazed for a moment as his surroundings came into focus. He was stood in what appeared to be a rather cold pantry of some kinds, shelves of numerous foodstuffs surrounding him. Looking down he jumped as he saw that his hands and clothes were covered in what looked to be a generous coating of blood, panicking as he tried to wipe his hands on what little clean area still remained of his coat.
Suddenly he heard a crashing noise from somewhere beyond the doorway, confused and somewhat scared he reached for the handle of the doorway before opening it slightly as the crashing noise came again. He gasped in horror at the sight before him, the room before him was obviously some kind of kitchen, however it was covered in streaks and pools of blood, the bodies of several fae laying where they had obviously fallen with deep cuts and gash wounds covering their bodies. The crashing noise sounded again before at the opposite side of the room several city guardsmen broke into the room brandishing swords, several of them clearly disgusted by what they saw as they gazed at Lauranthil accusingly.
The elf suddenly realised what the situation looked like as he glanced down and saw a knife at his feet that was completely covered in gore and laying in a pool of blood. Before he could react the guards had swarmed forwards, each of them shouting at him to give himself up and stay where he was. His protests of innocence were ignored as one of them tackled him before dragging him kicking and screaming through the generous layer of blood out through the house to the front where a young fae girl was waiting with a small crowd behind her.
“Is this him?” one of the guards asked pointing to Lauranthil as the others clapped his arms in a sturdy set of manacles. The girl nodded quickly with tears streaming down her face before she managed to blurt a word of confirmation.
The guard shook his head, clearly disgusted as he made his way to Lauranthil with a small black sack before he aggressively shoved it onto his head and pulled a drawstring to keep it tight around his neck. Spitting on the ground the guard remarked “You’ll hang for this you piece of filth. Murdering the fae ambassador and his family of all people at a time like this.”
The other guards nodded in agreement, a few of them agreeing with little other than angry curses and one even going as far as to mumble something about if he even makes it to the noose alive.
In the city itself word was spreading quickly, people gathered in the shadows and exchanged hushed whispers. Most couldn’t believe what they were hearing, that the Lady Desjardins had demanded the release of her husband threatening to take him by force, whilst her butler had been apprehended literally red handed murdering practically the entire staff of the fae embassy. As tensions continued to rise reports of angry mobs in the streets became more and more common, news of a murder here or there coming in as both elves and fae blamed each other for the events, the situation now spinning rapidly out of control as the elven guard was scrambled to keep order on the streets – it would not be long before word spread to the fae cities nearby to Jabari. Phrenesis watched from above, hidden from view as his plan continued to click neatly into place.
Phrenesis
Once the excitement died down he floated towards the city barracks, as soon as he spotting a living creature he veered towards it, intent on possessing it and resuming a physical form as quickly as possible. The unlucky creature was a mangy grey cat, the creature reminding him oh so fondly of Ada somewhat as he took control of it. If the feline could have chuckled it would have, but instead it simply hacked a hairball out. As he began to slink across the rooftops Phrenesis couldn’t help but note what bad condition the cat was in, and so concentrated somewhat his abilities on healing its small body – not for any sense of sympathy, but rather so that his ‘vessel’ was in as good condition as it could be.
As the feline reached the city barracks he perched on top of a wall, watching the chaos unfold before him. It seemed that an angry mod had quickly assembled and had forced the Lady Desjardins back inside with her husband the Earl, he now heard shouts of treachery and anger – some assuming that she had sent her butler to do her dirty work, others shouting about their innocence. Numerous small scuffles were breaking out, the only guards to be seen where the household guard of house Desjardins – firmly keeping back any who tried to advance into the barracks.
The cat suddenly felt the fog lifting from its mind as Phrenesis left it’s body, his presence floating down towards the guards as he quickly detected one that had consumed his breath – possessing the man easily. A dark expression covered his face as Phrenesis pulled his sword from its scabbard, darkness glinting in his eyes.
“For House Desjardins and the elven kingdom!” he shouted at the top of his lungs before he lunged forwards blade first into the crowd that was comprised primarily of fae merchants and several nobles – managing to decapitate one and stab another through the chest before the crowd descended upon him and began to grab, punch, kick, stab as well as many other painful things. Leaving the body again Phrenesis floated upwards and gazed downwards, wishing it was possible somehow to freeze what he was seeing in some kind of eternal picture and send it to Aergar. Pure sweet chaos.
As he returned to the cat which had barely moved from where he left it he watched as the crowds swarmed the household guard, the sheer volume of bodies being more then they could resist as some of them tried to fight back and others were simply torn apart. Phrenesis watched so fondly as the mob swarmed into the barracks, the sounds of death and combat echoing out as they obviously encountered whatever members of the city guard were still inside. Soon the bodies of both the Earl and Lady Desjardins were dragged into the streets, as soon as they were the malevolent spirit once more left its feline vessel and occupied the nearest week-willed rioter who was holding a lit torch before he turned and strode into the barracks. Moments later black smoke began to billow from the building and flames began to creep from each opening turning the scene into that of utter destruction and death.
As the cat turned to flee into the night it once more felt the smothering presences take control of its mind, and it turned and made its way triumphantly back towards the now empty mansion sitting in the what he assumed would soon be the very violent starlight district.
Fritz
Duplo snapped a response at him before she asked him why he was here, it seemed rhetorical but he could tell she was making a point. He had no idea why he was here, if indeed he was here for any reason at all.
Kirin introduced herself to Duplo politely, even curtsying as she did so. Fritz grinned and waited to see how she would react – after all Duplo seemed to be a bit short from what he had experienced. He mulled over her words – came across her in a shop, and wondered what exactly that meant, but decided against asking further right now.
He turned his attention to Aergar the forest Imp and watched him closely. It seemed he knew Ada to some degree, or at least they had run into each other several times in the past. He closely watched their conversation, as at the moment the Imp was trying to convince her that he wasn’t so bad and was talking about their past times together, something Fritz was keep to learn about if he could.
