Open Chronicles An unfortunate series of events

[Helia Glacies Kyxo]

"We part at dawn! His Grace, the Patriarch of House-"he groaned, balling his trembling hands into fists "His Grace, you know his title, will be pleased. Know that he will treat you as if you were his own flesh and blood." More's the reason to marry them off to his sons, he thought.

"Sleep."

This man was insufferable, but she dealt with insufferable men often in her own courts. She had no doubt that she could handle this patriarch as well with little trouble.

“your generosity and kindness to our people will never be forgotten princess Helia. Know that you have a friend in us.”

She stood from the table and curtsied according to her own customs. Ojo was a nice girl, and so Helia feared for her once they were within the lands of the patriarch.
"Your words honor me and my father, Princess Akane. In friendship let us look together to a brighter future."

“I look forward to seeing you there Princess Helia. Sayōnara.”

"Likewise, Princess Akane. Farewell."
Helia left with her paladin guard and went to her own quarters as well. Two guards posted at her door and the others in an adjacent room.
She was not looking forward to going to Vel Anir at all, and not only because she was a northerner and had a preference and affinity for cooler temperatures. Vel Anir was considered cut-throat among world politics, racist, xenophobic, nothing like Mardania and it's inclusive laws. Though the factions within Mardania and specifically in the capital of Mardus were also known for a unique level of political cunning and danger.

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When they arrived by carriage in Vel Anir Helia was already having a hard time. The southern temperatures were getting to her and she was constantly cooling herself with a mist of icy fog as they rode through the city.
She avoided direct beams of sunlight and didn't look out the window often. She didn't understand how people could live in this oppressive dry heat!

 

[Callarn]

What a night it had been, better than any spent dreaming! And like a dream it had passed, logic and time running as fluid as the blood on Callarn's pantleg. The renegade, no longer a Dreadlord, nevertheless felt forced to reach out to his former charges and tell them the latest news. Mounted on a horse, a Dreadlord mare that wasn't his, it took a good part of the morning for him to find the princesses and their retinues.

"Fancy the city? I can see it in your eyes..." he took a swig from a wooden cup, brown beer, as he trotted to Akane's side "Careful now! Meander into the wrong street and you'll have them gouged. Used for some charms, I'm certain." it wasn't just his words that were untowardly, or the fact that he hadn't dismounted or still drank in sight. Something about the swordmage's mien had changed, or rather, revealed itself. He took a handful of black dust from a hanging pouch, vanishing it with a deep sniff. He wiped the trickle of blood running down his nostril with the back of his hand.

"Ah..." he rested the cup between the horse's ears. The immense creature, as well trained as the rider, kept still as a statue. "You make for pleasant enough company." he stretched his arms over his head "But I think I am done with this sad life of princesses and patriarchs and pretense. I'm riding off, and hoping to lop off the heads of as many as you highborns as I can. Care to join me, little princess? Set out for a life of your making, rather than languish in the blind luxury you were born into?" he took the cup, finished it.

"You can come too, I suppose, but only if you pay for the horse feed." he added to Helia, who had acted the part of a princess much closer to Callarn's mind.

 

[Ōjo Akane]

"Ah..." he rested the cup between the horse's ears. The immense creature, as well trained as the rider, kept still as a statue. "You make for pleasant enough company." he stretched his arms over his head "But I think I am done with this sad life of princesses and patriarchs and pretense. I'm riding off, and hoping to lop off the heads of as many as you highborns as I can. Care to join me, little princess? Set out for a life of your making, rather than languish in the blind luxury you were born into?" he took the cup, finished it.

She rolled her eyes and tried to remain polite. “I appreciate the offer, and I definitely appreciate that you have such a high opinion of me so soon. But I have duties to my father and his people. And if I may say so, I think that you may have had a little too much medicine. Even so, I hope that your leg is feeling better. Besides, blind luxury is a bit of an over exaggeration. While I have been relatively comfortable in my life it hasn’t been without hardships.”

"You can come too, I suppose, but only if you pay for the horse feed." he added to Helia, who had acted the part of a princess much closer to Callarn's mind.

She glanced at Callarn, “please good sir, be nice.”

 

[Helia Glacies Kyxo]

"Fancy the city? I can see it in your eyes..." he took a swig from a wooden cup, brown beer, as he trotted to Akane's side "Careful now! Meander into the wrong street and you'll have them gouged. Used for some charms, I'm certain."

She was hardly aware when her retinue had joined with Akane and hers since she had avoided the windows and the heat as much as possible, but much less pleasant to realize was that Callarn had joined them as well.

"Ah..." he rested the cup between the horse's ears. The immense creature, as well trained as the rider, kept still as a statue. "You make for pleasant enough company." he stretched his arms over his head "But I think I am done with this sad life of princesses and patriarchs and pretense. I'm riding off, and hoping to lop off the heads of as many as you highborns as I can. Care to join me, little princess? Set out for a life of your making, rather than languish in the blind luxury you were born into?" he took the cup, finished it.

"You can come too, I suppose, but only if you pay for the horse feed."

It took far too much effort to pretend to like him. And now his contempt for her and her "highborn" position was obvious and he all but admitted to them both that he was turning to banditry.
She looked out the window of her carriage, her body emitting a fog that kept her cool. Her own contempt obvious in her glare.
"You don't know what you're asking me to do. Be careful Dreadlord, you tread an icy path."

The path another delinquent took, one that led him to slay royalty for coin, one that led him to a garden where a queen watched her children play... A path that led this man to slay the queen, her son, and the son of an allied royal family which would have been Helia's betrothed had his life not ended so tragically soon.

She was tempted to end the Dreadlords path here and now to spare the world from paying the price of his choices.
But here in a foreign city with no authority wisdom decided that she should wait.

“I appreciate the offer, and I definitely appreciate that you have such a high opinion of me so soon. But I have duties to my father and his people. And if I may say so, I think that you may have had a little too much medicine. Even so, I hope that your leg is feeling better. Besides, blind luxury is a bit of an over exaggeration. While I have been relatively comfortable in my life it hasn’t been without hardships.”

Princess Akane was far more gracious than Helia. Helia didn't appreciate the offer in the least and she made this as obvious as possible.
"I agree with princess Akane. You've drunk far too much to think clearly.
We've come here at your invitation to meet with the request of the Patriarch and see what he wants. Do you intend that we escort ourselves to his presence or is this part of your rebellion and final insult against your master?"

 

[Callarn]

"I'm sure you've faced plenty a hardship, dearie, but do consider for a moment your people over your father and yourself. Are you certain they wouldn't much prefer a representative over someone so lucky as to be squeezed thru the right loins? A cat or human's, I couldn't care less." more powder was taken and sniffed, more wine was poured and drank "No, I don't have much of an opinion on you. By pleasant enough I meant that of this whole world you are the least likely to cut my throat as we sleep. And travelling is much easier with another so, y'know." he tried to flash a confident smile but whipped his head drunkenly instead "You're too kind for the well-wishing, but this leg of mine is the least... I am left wondering what other, more insidious wounds were inflicted upon my person and I. Was I born in Vel Anir? Is my name really Callarn? Who am I, besides the Pointer Finger of a fat, impotent lordling?"

"I am a nobody, that's who. And woe to anyone that'd sooner choose to live a tyrant than a nobody." he clicked his tongue and the horse started pacing. Before he left the swordmage threw a bag at Helia's feet - from it rolled ten squirming obese pale fingers, jeweled and marked with the symbols of house Urahil. Callarn had tortured the Patriarch.

 

[Ōjo Akane]

"I'm sure you've faced plenty a hardship, dearie, but do consider for a moment your people over your father and yourself. Are you certain they wouldn't much prefer a representative over someone so lucky as to be squeezed thru the right loins? A cat or human's, I couldn't care less."

"My father's first and primary duty is to his people." She huffed, he was getting quite rude and she was having difficulty keeping her temper in line. "And my first duty is to my father. My people are represented by my father through me, and his biggest concern is their safety and well-being. My people understand this and have voiced no complaints, as is their right. And I would ask that you try to keep your words under control."

"I am a nobody, that's who. And woe to anyone that'd sooner choose to live a tyrant than a nobody." he clicked his tongue and the horse started pacing. Before he left the swordmage threw a bag at Helia's feet - from it rolled ten squirming obese pale fingers, jeweled and marked with the symbols of house Urahil. Callarn had tortured the Patriarch.

Akane's eyes widened. He wasn't planning on starting, he already had. Her samurai were quicker to respond than she, each had their katana out and ready to cut down the former dreadlord on the spot. Unless he had a group of soldiers or warriors with him, he would be cut down.

 

[Helia Glacies Kyxo]

The bag spilled over to reveal its contents and Helia was all at once pleased and repulsed. The implication was that now she could avoid a supremely awkward conversation with a potentially unreasonable man to convince him she's not on the marriage market, even if he's not dead he has more important things to deal with than her and Akane.
However, Callarn had already made his move, his rebellion had already begun.
The Paladin Knights followed suit with the Samurai and drew swords, but they positioned their horses protectively around the carriages while the Eastern warriors moved to end the traitor.

Helia diverted her magic from her comfort and opened her carriage door. She had some knowledge of the Dreadlords of Vel Anir and knew of their propensity for magic and combat. So she readied her own magic to counter any overt magical attacks he might devise.

 

[Callarn]

In a matter of seconds Callarn had more swords pointed at him than even before in his life, but it could be the case that he was just seeing double. Or triple, he had drank that much.

"Tut-tut. I thought you blue bloods were sticklers for etiquette?" he didn't as much as draw his rapier, but he wasn't drinking or snuffing either "This is fine, I didn't come to dialogue either. More like, seize up the kind of people I'll be bringing hereby now. The self-deluded and the haughty, I fancy my odds!" he doubled over himself laughing and slapped his leg - the one mangled and now numbed. When he returned he was very pale, wiping tears from his face. Not just from the pain

"Oh, my dear paladins and sa-moo-rai, don't you see that even if I am the craziest man in Arethil, I am also the freest? But what worth is freedom, if the world cannot join in song." he motioned for the bottle, until his hand reached for the whip. He beat the horse's hind, a motion of explosive force, and the furious beast trampled through the line of soldiers.

Callarn galloped through the streets - a one man stampede. Above everything else, he wanted to be away from this miserable place, its corruption had seeped too deep in him.

 

[Ōjo Akane]

The horses were reacted to by the samurai leaping out of the way. They were no idiots. Several gave chance with impressive speed, the rest, two, remained behind to keep Akane safe from harm.

Akane herself had drawn her twin sai, and held them loosely but surely in preparation for combat.

Surely he wouldn't have just run off without a plan. Something was going to happen.

 

[Helia Glacies Kyxo]

It was clear to Helia now that the man was almost certainly off his rocker... After all that talk and veiled threats he was riding away? Helia was confused about the man, his reasoning if he had any, why bring them here at all if only to witness his rebellion and ride away? If so why two foreigners with very little to do with Vel Anir and it's own internal struggles?

None of it made sense to Helia and thus she was momentarily shocked into inaction when the Dreadlord rode right past her and princess Akane.
Some of her own paladins began to make chase on horseback and by the time she had regained her wits enough to stop them only the captain and four other paladins remained to protect her.

Helia furrowed her brow trying to focus and force things to make sense...
She spoke to her paladins as she descended the last step from her carriage.
"Protect me. I must speak with princess Akane."
She approached her new ally with her paladins forming a perimeter around them with their chargers.

"Princess Akane, we should leave Vel Anir immediately! Not only is there no longer a reason to meet with a Patriarch but our people are in danger of losing their royal heirs to a foreign bandit!
The Dreadlord just singlehandedly reduced our guard to a manageable force for a weaker fighting force to overwhelm. Again, lets flee from this place immediately!"

 

[Ōjo Akane]

"Princess Akane, we should leave Vel Anir immediately! Not only is there no longer a reason to meet with a Patriarch but our people are in danger of losing their royal heirs to a foreign bandit!
The Dreadlord just singlehandedly reduced our guard to a manageable force for a weaker fighting force to overwhelm. Again, lets flee from this place immediately!"

“I agree. Our guards who have given chase need to be contacted however so we shouldn’t flee too far. We get out of sight, then get your knights and my samurai back.” She said pulling out her twin sai daggers for use. “Though do not think me defenseless friend.”

She motioned for the Gates to her samurai and they bowed at the waist before they allowed her to take the lead. “With haste now.”

 

[Ōjo Akane]

Callarn