Private Tales Broken Crowns

[Selene Avar]

Just Outside Vel Trellir
Evangeline

First Level Dreadlord Selene Avar crouched down inside of the tall grass that seemed to surround the city of Vel Trellir on all sides. Her face was smooth, impassive, fingers resting on her knee as she watched the small army milling about just outside of the tall walls. A soft glow clung to her eyes within the dark, the odd orange hue burning through the night.

"We'll have to go over the walls." Selene said softly to her companion, fingers drumming on her knee for a few seconds as she looked over towards Evangeline.

Vel Trellir was a Fortress city. Built some three hundred years ago it had been constructed as a bulwark against the northern tribes of the Savannah. It's walls were massive, encapsulating the whole of the city and keeping it safe. Dozens of towers mounted the walls all around, and even at this distance she could tell they were all manned. Even the Anirian Guard would have difficulty in sieging Vel Trellir.

The army outside of the city walls, of course, was not here to do that. No. It belonged to the very savages that the city had been built to keep out.

It seemed that two months ago the Barbarians had struck a bargain with the Governor of Vel Trellir. They had banded together, and in an extremely foolish move had decided that they no longer needed the guidance of the Houses. This rebellion was obviously something Vel Anir could not stand, and thus preparations had begun.

The Guard was mobilizing, but the Houses had thought of another idea.

Two Dreadlords, sent under the cover of night.

They were to do as much damage as they could. Slaughter the would be king, eradicate pieces of the army, destroy storehouses and do whatever other damage that they could. Selene had volunteered for the duty of course, there was opportunity to be had here. "Once we're inside the city we can disguise ourselves."

She said quietly.

"From there we can decide on our best approach." Sabotage wasn't always about the most direct blow, sometimes you had to do things more...subtly.

 

[Evangeline]

House Pirian had been the second to volunteer their services to this covert mission, seeing it as an opportunity to expand their meager influence. To that end, they offered the best that they had: Evangeline D'Amour, Second Level. While she was more than happy to do anything her Lord and Lady asked of her, she was admittedly displeased to learn that she would be once again working alongside House Virak's burning star, Selene Avar.

Evangeline had seen what the First Level was capable of first hand, had witnessed and felt the intensity of her flames. She questioned why the Houses tolerated her existence as it was: a woman who had sacrificed her very humanity for the sake of power. Then again, perhaps that was what most of the Houses had done already. From all that she'd heard, Elise was sufficiently more monster than human as well. Gods, just being near Selene was enough to make her stomach turn.

Regardless of her personal feelings on the matter, Eva was here to represent House Pirian and to accomplish a mission, and that was what she was going to do. That meant following Selene's orders, of course, as well as paying her respect. So it was that she knelt in the grass beside the fiery First Level, ready as she could be to move.
"Of course, ma'am." Evangeline answered dutifully. "I can accelerate us enough that we should be able to avoid detection on the approach, but scaling the walls might prove challenging."

With the right amount of magical exertion she could probably run straight up the side of the walls, but Eva was curious to see what Selene had in mind. There was always something to be learned from one's superiors, regardless of how much distaste you held for them.

 

[Selene Avar]

A year ago she could have used the magics of earth to simply build a tunnel for them. She had done so more than once in situations like these, but those abilities were now lost to her.

When she had given up her humanity and...become what she'd become, the flames had taken over her soul. There was no more shaping the earth, not unless she turned it to molten rock. Her abilities did not lend themselves to a subtle approach here.

Selene considered for a moment, then shrugged as she crept back and went to her horse. From her saddle-bag she pulled out a piece of rope with a metal hook at the end.

"Sometimes." She said with a shrug. "It is simplest to do things the old fashioned way."

Magic was all well and good. Their abilities could level cities and take on entire armies, but it wasn't always necessary. Why waste the energy when they could simply climb right over the wall? All they had to do was reach a dark spot.

An easy enough task with Evangeline's magic.

 

[Evangeline]

Evangeline watched carefully as Selene fetched something from her horse's inventory. She was surprised to see what her superior had in store. A...grappling hook? Old fashioned was right...but, it was a practical and straightforward plan, one that involved much less magical exertion than many of the alternatives.

The Pirian Dreadlord nodded her affirmation.
"Very well." She replied, folding her hands together. "Then allow me to get us close."

She closed her eyes and began to focus. Accelerating herself or an inanimate object was easy enough, but allowing another to experience her enhancement as she did (without holding hands the whole way) was something that took a little more effort. Her form began to shift and oscillate slightly as she held her focus. Gradually, her outline began to blur, then the space around her, the grass, and finally Selene as well.

"I can maintain this effect as a field around me, roughly twenty feet in diameter, for a few minutes." She explained. "This should be enough to get us to the walls...but you'll have to stay close. Fall out of the field and you'll be a sitting duck."

 

[Selene Avar]

Selene nodded. "Alright."

Despite her reputation, she was used to working with other Dreadlords. Long ago she had realized that cooperation was often far more beneficial than anything else. She had spent her years in the Academy distancing herself from others, but such a play was no longer wise.

She knew that if she was to succeed she would need other Dreadlords on her side. Besides, why waste a gift such as the one Evangeline showed?

"Let's go." The Dreadlord said as she motion towards the field and the walls beyond. A second later Evangeline began to move, and then Selene with her. She made sure to keep pace with her companion, darting forward much faster than she had expected.

They cut through the plains quickly, darting forward until they reached the walls on the far side of the fields.

Selene let out a breath as she clutched the heavy rock. "Well done."

She breathed, hands still clutching the rope.

 

[Evangeline]

Selene adapted surprisingly well to Eva's acceleration. Not once did she lag behind nor get too far to any edge of the magic field Evangeline had created. Then again, it was not something to be surprised over...one didn't reach First Level by being incompetent. Even before her 'transcendence,' Eva had read that Selene had a stunning track record.

Just as planned, the duo reached the walls of Vel Trellir without incident. Eva was glad to be able to release the acceleration field, the magic dispersing like smoke in the wind. While she was far from winded, that particular spell took a lot more out of her than she preferred. This was likely to be a marathon rather than a sprint, so she had decided that pacing herself was important.

"Thank you, ma'am." She breathed.

The second level eyed Selene as she grasped the rope. So far as she knew, Selene's power set didn't include any sort of enhanced physical strength, and Vel Trellir's walls were very, very tall. Seemed that Eva wasn't quite done in her support role yet. She extended her hand in front of her, palm flat.

"Throw it. I'll give it a boost." She stated. If Selene wished, she'd deliver a simple command word to activate her magic, in time with Selene's throw: "Fire."

 

[Selene Avar]

As she looked up at the wall Selene wondered if it would not have been easier to simply assault the city after all.

They would have lost plenty of guardsmen, but a valuable lesson would have been taught to those who would stand against Vel Anir. Collapsing the wall would have been easy enough, molten rock beneath it's base would have seen it collapse within minutes.

Fingers tightened on the rope, and she dismissed the thought.

There was more than one way to get a job done, and so far her companion had proven more than useful. She had no doubt that they would sow Chaos within this city.

Her fingers wrapped around the grapple, eyes casting upwards to make sure no torchlight wandered around the upper wall. When she saw nothing, Selene wound the rope once, twice, and then sent it flying upward. "Fire."

The irony of that word was not lost on her.

She could see the slight press of Evangelines magic, and then saw the grapple land over the parapet of the wall. Her hand tugged the rope tight, ensuring the hook was in place.

"You go first, I'll cover you." In case anyone saw her fellow Dreadlords ascent. She would be better at killing them from this distance.