Open Chronicles Fallen Thrones

[Naghi]

Northern Liadain


Dead men lay on the road, some decorated in blood, others with their skin seemingly burned off, and still others with their heads simply torn from their very bodies.

It was a brutal scene, the kind to turn stomachs.

Kellen stood in the middle of it, no blade in his hands, nothing that would make it appear as though he had taken part in the slaughter around him save for the flecks of blood on his clothes. A frown touched his lips as he surveyed the corpse field, his eyes focusing for a moment on one man decorated in a coat of deep blue traced with gold.

He stepped through the mire, careful to avoid stepping on any of the bodies as he made his way through them. When he reached the decorated man he reached down, folding open his coat and grabbing something from the inside of it.

A small trinket it seemed, large enough to fit in his palm but small enough to be easily concealed.

"Whats that?"

A man asked him, coming up from behind Kellen with no overture of violence. The criminal underlord turned around, glancing at his compatriot for a moment before he shook his head. "Just a piece of evidence."

These men they had slaughtered had come from a nearby castle owned by Baron Laroux. He was not a kind man, in fact he was anything but. Cruel and twisted, with a knack for torturing peasants who had wronged him. That was why Kellen was here, because of this mans actions, because of what he had done.

He would be the first.

The first throne Kellen intended to fell.

It had started with only his men, a small group of twelve. Two mages and ten others who had taken the call. Now there was almost forty of them, men and women from the surrounding countryside eager for the fight. More joined every day, and soon Laroux would learn what was in store.

 

[Lectrix]

Lectrix had done his homework on this case. A criminal taking down an entire kingdom, working his way to the head of the snake but cutting out its tail.

He knew about the lord he intended to dethrone. Baron Laroux. A violent, horrible man, who mistreated his servants and those under his rule. He killed, tortured, and destroyed. A disgrace of men, one who had a specially reserved place in hell.

He also knew of the man he would call his employer, a minor criminal underlord named Kellen Ashby who was insignificant under his radar until now, when this tiny blip of violence and vengeance unfolded. It would lead him to launch his investigation, which would lead to his employment under the man, which led him to the shadows near the broken bloodied roads where the bodies of men who had met an untimely fate.

The men were underlings of Laroux, men who had fought with their lives to protect their lord, or rather, to collect their payments.

From the darkness, he examined the scene, taking every little detail into account. The blood, the heads, the gore. He felt his mind tumble for a second, but quickly he shook it off. Kellen walked through the corpse pile, his body completely void any contamination from the gore. His frowned calmed face took Lectrix by surprise, yet the was quickly surprised as his brow furrowed when Kellen reached for something he couldn't see inside one of the coats of the victims.

After an exchange with his compatriot, Lectrix figured he had scene enough, and slowly backed away from the scene, his goal now to regroup with the band of men and women under Kellen's control, insert himself discreetly, and build his rank to get close to man himself.

Kill one criminal's target and take in the criminal himself. The vigilante smiled slightly to himself as he waded through the brush of cover toward the rendezvous point.

A perfect scenario.

 

[TheRoyalMagus]

The sound of someone vomiting off to the side in a copse if trees was evident for all to hear. The young mage wasn't use to this sort of carnage. The blood and the smell, oh gods the smell! It was enough to churn his stomach and forcefully empty its contents.

Caspian wretched one more time, but at this point there was nothing left. He took swig of his canteen, swished it around and spit it out. "Gods..." He murmured in some sort of plea.

He had come to aid in disposing of the tyrant ruling these lands. As a noble himself Caspian felt a need to right the wrongs of his peers, some men were meant to rule, but not like this. He knew his magic would come in useful, particularly his abjurative skills. Negating another mages spells was a useful tactic, which was all Caspian had done during this massacre.

He walking away from the bush, wiping his hand over his mouth and looking around a bit sheepishly. Worried that he would now smell of vomit he cast a minor cantrip, a prestidigitation, something to replace the smell of vomit with, the smell of pine he decided.

After composing himself the young mage would rejoin the main group, forcing a smile over his face and mentally preparing himself for what was to come next.

 

[Faelin K'Abveirin]

The dark elf passed the corpses that lay mangled in all their foul glory. Must've been quite the massacre.

The elf tucked his green cloak tighter around his body and tilted his hat a bit more to obscure himself more. Reactions towards dark elves were mixed at best, plus his eyesight was not the best.

»What's this assembly about?«
He tilted his head, gazing at the gathering of people.
Who knows what he just stimbled upon on his way.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Road en route to Baron Laroux's castle

The carriage jolted and swayed along the rocky, muddy path. Lady Eislyn had quickly found herself in the role of emissary. The young woman had only heard stories of the Baron's cruelty from her far-away home. She'd grown-up among a different kind of tension with her own people. Her father, much like the Baron, was a tyrant in his own right.

But like her mother, Eislyn had chosen a different path. She had a strategic mind and a calm head for negotiations. And the royal title didn't hurt to open doors that might've been otherwise closed. Whether the Baron intended to use Eislyn just to make himself look good was another story. She'd be the judge of that and determine her next course of action after meeting with his Lordship.

"Lady Gray," one of her men called from the front of the carriage as she felt it come to a sudden stop. "A mob in the road. Stay inside." She heard the clank of steel as it was drawn from a scabbard. Angry shouts.

"Wait," hand drew away the heavy cloth from the window as she stepped out, hazel-eyes taking in the scene. Too many. They'd take the carriage either way. But maybe she could prevent them from taking her men's lives.

The young woman stepped out slowly, hands raised. "Please. We are only passing through. We have food to offer and coin."

A man in the mob spit, a wild-fire in his eyes. There were murmurings about nobles and angry slurs. Someone jeered about her beauty.

 

[Naghi]

As the others gathered around him Kellen watched carefully. Most of these faces were known to him, farmers that had come and joined their cause, a few guardsmen who couldn't stand the order of terror anymore.

A few people he didn't know.

Kellen frowned for a moment, glancing at a few of the new faces as if he were trying to lock them into his memories. He knew what a dangerous game they were playing here, knew that Laroux wasn't as dumb as most people assumed.

He would try more than one underhanded ploy before this was over. "We'll get everyone back to the cavern, let Laroux discover thi-"

Kellen was suddenly interrupted by the sound of an approaching carriage, the noise of horses and the clatter of wooden wheels on the road.

He scowled, then glanced towards two in his company.

"You two." Kellen pointed towards Lectrix and Caspian(TheRoyalMagus). "Help me here."

The Underlord said as he headed towards the Carriage.

 

[Lectrix]

"Aye"

Lectrix nodded at Kellen and jogged toward him, reaching for his sword and flicking his wrist to reveal the crossbow on his bracer.

He could see in the eye of the man that it wasn't going to be easy to win over his trust in the time he had, so being as obedient and loyal seemed like the best approach to get close to the man.

Now, with the slender, light blade he trusted in every engagement in his hand, he stood by his new compatriots to intercept the seemingly royal carriage that had appeared in front of the carnage. The passenger was covered from sight at first, but at the slight movement of the curtain, he raised his arm, aiming the crossbow for a deadly shot if this turned out to be a sudden ambush.

He was caught aback by the figure that emerged from the carriage. A noble woman, beautiful, with hazel eyes that glimmered back the reflections of the fires illuminating the area. She didn't look like anyone he had encountered in his research, so she was an innocent in this situation, yet that didn't stop Lectrix from pointing the crossbow to her head. Kellen didn't know who this was, so the responsible thing was to treat everyone on the carriage as a hostile.

"What should do about these lot, mate?" he said, leaning his head in toward Kellen.

 

[Faelin K'Abveirin]

Faelin stepped back, noting the carriage that appeared out of a whim, looks like many were anxious about who was inside. With the distraction at hand he would skip a bit further into the sidelines of the activity.
And the woman that exited seemed to captivate many agape, surely. Many probably never seen a woman of such a status before.
You know if her skin were as black as the midnight skin, Faelin might've considered her beutiful.

 

[Naghi]

Shock colored his face for a moment, the surprise of having anyone dressed that well popping out of a carriage out here was...unexpected.

Their little rebellion had hardly spread far and wide just yet, but it was well known that this area wasn't exactly safe to travel through. People tended to want to avoid any and all conflict if they could, even if it was just rumors.

"Don't kill them." Kellen called out to the others.

There was opportunity here.

"Hostages." He mused outloud. "Guests of the Baron, now ours."

The threat there was more than clear.

Lectrix | Eislyn Gray | Faelin K'Abveirin | TheRoyalMagus

 

[Lectrix]

"Aye"

He nodded in response to the command. He focused his wrist crossbow one of the men driving the carriage, his hand set on the hilt of his sword. She would make a good hostage, the guards, however, were expendable as people. He needed to guarantee their safety.

"Throw the sword in the bushed to your right. Comply or I'll put a bolt between your eyes."

His voice was dark, yet loud and assertive, a voice that's goal was to impress his boss, and terrify the guards. If they knew hat was good for them, he hoped that they would comply. He didn't want more bodies on the road.

"And you, lass, walk towards me. We won't hurt you as long as you don't do anything rash."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

A man's voice split through the air, easing the wildness in the angry mob that had surrounded her carriage. The horses stomped and neighed uneasily, able to sense the tension in the air. Eislyn's calm, cool gaze focused for a moment on the shaved headed man.

The leader, perhaps?

Verdant eyes shifted to the other with the crossbow. Her men were loyal - almost to a fault. Fingers rose behind her. "Geoffrey, please do as these gentlemen say."

They, of course, were anything but gentlemen.

"But m'lady..," he protested.

"Geoffrey, I will not ask again."

The man with the peppered-orange beard finally relented and dropped his sword. as Eislyn drew her attention back to the one with the crossbow. "Lady Gray will do." Clipped voice responded, as her fingers gathered the folds of her dress at her side. It was clear she was well-spoken. Well-educated.

"I can promise you my men will do as you say, as long as you keep your end of the bargain. My offer of our coin and food inside the carriage is still open to you all." Back straight, chin held high, the girl moved toward the outlaws. Those in the mob backed away, some bowed as she passed unsure of what to do in the presence of a lady and one who surprised them with generosity. But surprised them more with her lack of fainting in the face of danger.

 

[Naghi]

"Aye." Kellen said with a chuckle. "We'll take both."

There had never been any question of that.

This wasn't about the girl of course, she just presented an opportunity was all. Laroux had a reputation to protect, and even if he had no idea who this woman was she would still hold a certain amount of value just from the story of this getting out.

"I promise you won't be harmed." Yet.

Kellen had no love for nobles, even ones who seemed to be cooperative.

"Enough blood has been spilled today." Kellen regarded the corpses still half way down the road. "Take everything."

He said as he turned away from the carriage.

 

[Faelin K'Abveirin]

»Apparently not enough by the looks of it.« The elf spoke out at Kellen.
»Who all are you taking down?« His words seemed to be spoken more heavily than before. His voice not lightly dismissed this time around.

 

[Lectrix]

The other men stood still, most of them in shock of the events that just took place. The men that bowed looked at one another, questioning what the hell just happened. Had they just taken a noble hostage? Even when their boss barked orders to loot the carriage. With him walking away, this was a way to affirm his position as a potential lieutenant to Kellen.

"You heard the man! What are you waiting for, tear it apart!

Lectrix yelled, pointing toward the carriage. He saw one man jump up from his stunned position, and walk towards the carriage. Soon, the rest trickled forward until they were all beginning to take small boxes of food and bags of coin out of the abnormally large carriage. One fit for a noble he thought. He hadn't heard anything malicious of this Lady Gray, so he assumed the best. An innocent, one he had to get out of here. Even if he had to play a part in this, he was going to make sure no one that needed to get hurt got hurt. Or worse.

He retracted his crossbow and drew his sword while approached the guard, witnessing the raid on the carriage.

"Move, behind him and your lady" he said, brandishing the sword toward the direction where Kellen walked away, Lady Gray walking behind him. As the guard walked, he grabbed him by the neck and placed his sword against his back. He shouted loudly "What the hell did you say to me!". As he did this, he quickly used what was left of his breathe to whisper in the guards ear.

"Listen, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to make sure you and your Lady get back home safely. Just play along and I will make sure nothing happens to either of you. Spit on the ground if you understand, and I apologize in advance."

After the spit left the guard's mouth, he turned him around and gave a quick jab to his nose. He pulled it, but it was just enough for him to react.

"Get up!" He said once again, pointing his sword at the guard. He complied, and the two went in the direction of Kellen.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

If the authorities in these parts ever caught up with these people, they would hang. Kidnapping a noble, the least on the list of crimes they committed. If the stories she’d heard about the Baron were true, it was a shame he wouldn’t hang as well.

But two wrongs didn’t necessarily make a right.

A scuffle behind caused her to turn her blonde-haired head. Poor Geoffrey sported a bloody nose. So much for the shaved-headed man’s first promised. Eislyn briefly glared at the one with the sword.

She, of course, didn’t know what was going on.

Fingers ran over the iron bangle strapped around one wrist, hidden beneath the sleeves of her dress. No doubt scouts would come looking for the missing envoy.

“Where are you taking us?” She made no complaints as her slippered feet tried to keep up. She’d trekked across the spine once. A long time ago. She was by no means out of shape. Perhaps lacking well-defined muscle from physical labor. It was more the shoes. If she’d known she was going to be taken hostage, she would've packed something far more sensible.