Dreadlords The Pride of Vel Numera

[Alistair Krixus]

"They're like us, but...not."

He turned to look back out at the window, but instead of admiring the festival, his eyes scanned the area like he was hoping some sort of hint would suddenly appear out of nowhere.

"If we are the soldiers of Vel Anir, then they are the assassins. They are trained like us, supposedly even worse, but while we fight with swords on the fields of battle, they fight with daggers in the dark...They are also half-bloods. Bastard children that share both Anirian and non-human blood. Every time I have fought them, I nearly died...When it comes to pure killing, they are the best."

They were a remnant from before the Republic. A reminder that even when one thought Vel Anir could not go any lower, they could and with ease.

In the city, they had themselves and Ventress. Regular soldiers would not be much help...Who were they after? The Forsaken would not just start killing random citizens. They were here for someone specific. Likely a Pirian, given the time they chose to come here...or maybe Elise.

Maseno Luana Kristen Pirian

 

[Maseno Luana]

Maseno's brows furrowed in deep concern. Part of him wanted not to believe what Alistair was describing. Raised and trained like Dreadlords, but worse? Their entire class had been put through some terrible things, but he couldn't fathom having to deal with worse. It made sense though - even before the Revolution, the Academy had operated around a kill or be killed mantra. Maz had managed to escape the latter, but the guilt of the former clung to him with such strength he wasn't sure he'd ever shake it.

"That is a serious suspicion," he remarked, "we should find Dreadlord Ventress and see how best we can assist her." With Al as their senior in this group, ultimately it was up to him to determine the best course of action.

"Do you feel it pertinent that someone should remain behind to ensure Lord Fyris' safety?" He didn't want to say anything aloud that would insult the Lord's standing, but he couldn't help think that Fyris simply wasn't a high priority Noble. Not with people in attendance like the Lady Virak.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen's lips pulled tight.

Concern manifested like the bubbles at the bottom of a pot of boiling water rising to the top. These Forsaken were assassins...half-human at that...and they worked on behalf of Vel Anir? It was all terribly perplexing at first, but, well, if there were rogue Dreadlords like Gilram and his ilk, then certainly there might well be rogue Forsaken. And if there were, their presence here was naught but ill.

"A serious suspicion indeed," Kristen said. On one hand she hoped Dreadlord Ventress was wrong, that whatever series of events which led her here to Vel Numera was faulty in some manner, that the threat was elsewhere. On the other hand, such a thought she knew was entirely unbecoming, wishing one's ills upon another.

At the prompt of Maseno's question, Kristen looked between Alistair and Fyris and said, "Until we have a firm understanding of what is going on, Dreadlord Alistair, I would like to request that I be allowed to stay with...Fyris?"

Fyris had wandered over to the window. Opened it, letting in more clearly all the sounds of the Harvest Festival, the laughter and the singing and the din of jovial revelry all around.

"Do you hear that, Kristen?"

Kristen, confused, didn't answer at first. But she didn't need to, for Fyris turned around and continued to speak, a sad little smile on his face.

"I know enough to know that these people need someone better than me. My term as Lord of Vel Numera will be coming to an end next year, and honestly I cannot wait. My father had high hopes for me, even has a title he wants to grant me once my Lordship here is over, but...I'm just not the man for the job. And I'm not the man for it here either, Kristen. I merely wanted to tell you that. To tell somebody that."

Kristen frowned, feeling a little sullen after Fyris's surprising clarity and honesty. "There are other ways in which you can serve House Pirian. You needn't be a landowning Lord. Surely your father knows this."

Fyris waved it off, still smiling. "You should talk with Captain Rennil about this Forsaken business. He convinced me to even request Dreadlord assistance in the first place."

Blood exploded out from Fyris's chest, splattering over the chamber desk in front of him, and his body stiffened harshly. He didn't scream, and his bulging eyes suggested he was in too much shock for that. Blood hung in the air before him in the shape of a sword. And then that invisible blade was wrenched back and Fyris fell forward, his head smacking against the desk on the way down. He was dead before he hit the floor.

Kristen let out a shuddering gasp of horror. Then an agonized cry, "NO!"

He emerged then from his Invisibility. As his magic faded it seemed as though he manifested into being from nothing. His clothes were light and dark-hued, his blade streaked with Fyris's blood. He was a half-orc. Duresh. At the sight of him Kristen paled with fright, stumbling back into the chamber door as trembling hands fought for the sheathed sword on her hip.

But Duresh regarded her, Alistair, and Maseno all with...sadness. Compassion. He made no hostile move.

And he said gently, "You have all suffered as I have."

Alistair Krixus Maseno Luana

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair glanced at Maseno, and he could tell they were thinking the same thing. They did not have the manpower to waste keeping Dreadlords around to watch non-important personnel. It made the decision all the more difficult when he realized Kristen was not thinking the same thing.

He could understand that she wanted to look after the family, but the quicker they could solve all of this, the safer Fyris would be. Al open his mouth to voice his thoughts on the matter and to try and convince Kristen otherwise when a chill ran up his spine.

He felt it before he could even react. The tingle of magic when it was in the process of change, followed by the feeling of sudden movement.

Alistair never had a chance as all he could do was watch Fyris's untimely demise. As the blood splattered across their face and clothes, the sinking feeling of having already lost settled in his chest.

Magic was already beginning to pool around his fingers as the Forsaken showed himself. This confirmed that he had to be rogue Forsaken, right? Who would order a Forsaken to kill so openly, and a minor Pirian lord, no less?

"Who do you work for?" He focused on calling the magic around him, mainly looking to focus his attention at him. Let Maseno and Kristen prepare themselves.

Maseno Luana Kristen Pirian

 

[Val Pirian]

Val mulled over the information that Elise was feeding him. Remarkably little, yet still quite the revelation. What concerned Val much more than what she was saying, however, was how she was saying it.

"And you're...happy about all this?" Val posed the question cautiously, concern marking his expression. Such a return would no doubt be highly consequential for the structure of her House, but there was also a lot to unpack insofar as the emotional impact it might have.

 

[Maseno Luana]

It was with confusion that Maseno's gaze met Fyris' death. Having also felt the twinge of magic but being completely incapable of recognizing what it was, for a split second he thought Fyris was the one conjuring. Turns out, the lucid man had only conjured his own demise.

Blinking out into the spray of blood, the confusion quickly shifted to shock as the half-orc materialized before his very eyes behind the fallen Pirian. Maz felt his chest clench in a moment of abject disbelief. Ventress had been right ... and they had failed.

"No-" the Initiate lifted a hand to wipe gently at his cheek, then looked down at the blood there and splattered across his entire front.

"You have all suffered as I have."

Maseno looked back up, the amber of his eyes taking on a sheen of molten gold, "And you have made a grave mistake." While Alistair questioned and Kristen reeled, Maz lifted his hand to their foe and immediately lashed out with unseen powers of telekinesis in an attempt to grab the infiltrator from where he stood and lift him bodily from the ground.

 

[Duresh]

Duresh thought that he was done with Vel Anir forever. That the book had been closed on the note of his father, Garron Banick, rejecting him completely and utterly. That the final page, at least, was one of a better note, a happier note, with the elf Eren'thiel Xyrdithas calling him friend as they began their journey to Alliria and from there parted.

Yet a missive found him in Bhathairk. News of the Revolution...and a plea for help.

Duresh had not been one among the Forsaken's number, though in his work as an asset for his father Garron he encountered many of them. And, truth be told, it was only by dint of his mother's work in Alliria, that she had not ever visited Vel Anir, that he wasn't inducted into the secretive ranks of the Forsaken. And so Duresh sympathized with the plea he received. He had the knowledge, the contacts, everything that would be needed.

For the Republic brought no justice to those who had tossed their half-breed children into unimaginable suffering. Nor would it. The Anirians fought for their own sake in the Revolution. What half-measures had been taken with the Forsaken were paltry and laughable. And so it was that the callous mothers and fathers would see their justice come at the end of a covert blade.

Much like Fyris Pirian.

Yet this vengeance needed to be discriminate. Only the nobles who had sired or birthed Forsaken were acceptable targets. Kristen Pirian, Alistair Krixus, Maseno Luana (yes, through Mayor Caspian he knew all their names) were innocent of these crimes; they were as much victims of the cruel nature of the nobility above them as the Forsaken, given that each was a Dreadlord or Dreadlord Initiate.

But the Avian did not see it that way. The Avian wanted indiscriminate slaughter of the nobility. He wanted the streets of all Vel Anir to run red with aristocratic blood. While Duresh's restrained approach had its adherents, the Avian had no shortage of Forsaken who shared his bloodlust. Perhaps more.

It was Duresh's hope that the blood of Fyris Pirian would buy him time to convince the Avian to stand down here in Vel Numera. Heavy-handed tactics tempted ruin.

So Duresh needed to extricate himself.

Before it was too late.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen fought to unsheathe her sword but shock and fear held her in their terrible clutches. Her back was pressed to the door of Fyris's office chamber and without it she might well have fallen, her knees awfully unsteady in the moment. Such training as she had endured in pursuit of becoming a Dreadlord collapsed before so primal a foe. She could feel again that very terror which had gripped her nine-year-old heart, watching the blur of an invisible Duresh kill two elite Pirian-sworn guardsmen, appearing from thin air, stalking toward her, looming large, his expression hard-set, and the last and most poignant feeling of that day was the warm release of urine running down her legs, soaking into her dress, before all went black. She had never even felt the punch he delivered to her jaw.

Shivering breaths of fright were the only sounds Kristen could make.

Alistair, meanwhile, questioned Duresh as he prepared himself. Maseno leapt right into action, his hand raised but his magic unseen.

Duresh floated briefly above the ground. Then a hand whipped back behind his belt. There came a loud POP followed by a prolonged HISSSSS and a spent metal cylinder fell to the ground. A little shimmer rippled over Duresh's form. And he landed back onto his feet. Had Kristen the wherewithal to do so, to conjure a Withering Chain, it too would have been ineffective in that moment against him. And indeed, Duresh's own Invisibility could not be called upon until the effect of his Null Shell dissipated.

"I am sorry for what I have done," he said, looking gravely at Kristen in particular, "and for what I must do."

Duresh backpedaled and deftly jumped onto the window sill. With near total silence he climbed upwards onto the roof of the Pirian Manor to make his escape from there.

Kristen's knees at last failed her. She slid down into a seated position by the door. Her sword was still sheathed.

"It's him...it's him...oh god..."

Alistair Krixus Maseno Luana

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Nope, no way in hell was he letting him get away. He noticed Kristen's fall but sprinted forward. His body was covered in a soft glow as several runes on his body activated.

"Kris, move!"

This must be tough for her. She had just watched her Uncle die but now was not the time. Tough love was needed to get her back into the game.

He wasted no time in leaping out the window and climbing up after the assassin. He cursed under his breath as his runes kept him close enough to keep Duresh in his sight, but the assassin seemed to glide up the walls.

Was he even using magic? No, he was just that fast. His climbing abilities were incredible. Alistair on the other hand would keep up using brute force, his fingers dug into the side of the walls, also drawing blood. It did not matter, he just needed to keep up.

Kristen Pirian Maseno Luana

 

[Elise Virak]

Elise's face contorted in a mixture of emotions even she could not possibly puzzle out in that moment. "I..."

The hesitation was utterly clear in her voice.
"I am, in a way." She found herself being blissfully honest for once. Elise spun no lies to hide behind, created no fiction. This was one of the few things she could speak without limits, to one of the few people in the world who might understand.

Might not betray her later. "My family is not like yours., Val"

"I've been so very alone." Elise said softly.

There was a long pause, as though she couldn't quite decide if she wanted to continue, and then she did. "My father was a monster, there is no doubt in that, but I knew he would never kill me. Hurt, yes, but kill? No. He would always protect me and what we have."

Admitting that was somehow painful.

"I have cousins, uncles, and aunts still of course." She said quietly. "But we are not Pirian, our traditions are not the same. I am surrounded by Lorels, Diemuts, and Marrs."

Lips thinned as she recounted her distant relatives. "Half of them act like sycophants and the other half wonders when I'll die. Or worse, they're actively plotting to kill me."

Even those that claimed to love her.

"Erich has denounced both title and claim." Elise continued. "There is no struggle for power, no fight. Perhaps just..."

She shrugged, utterly and blissfully unaware of the dilemma faced by Val and hers later dinner party. "Family."

Something she had never had before.

 

[Maseno Luana]

One moment he had the man in his telekinetic grasp, the next the sensation of his hold fizzled away into nothingness ... like sand through his fingers. Maseno's eyes grew wide with surprise and confusion, "What!" and before he knew it their target had fled out the window with Alistair hot on his heels.

He hadn't the time to puzzle it out, they had to move to keep up. With Al tailing him up to the roof, they would need to get their boots on the ground outside to cut off escape access. Notifying the city watch and Guard as well as Ventress was paramount to making the capture. Turning on his heel, he turned to find Kristen in a shocked heap on the floor.

"Kristen!" moving quickly to her front, Maseno did not offer a helping hand or ask what she needed, he simply acted by reaching down to grasp her firmly by the upper arm and haul her to her feet, "I am sorry but your grief must wait. We have to alert the city Guard and tell Ventress."

 

[Duresh]

Duresh leaped effortlessly across the rooftops, even with the bloody blade in hand. The verticality of Vel Numera's central district posed no challenge to him, and indeed, he was very much at home in it.

He was aware that one of the Dreadlords was tailing him. He wasn't sure which one it was—whether it was Alistair or Maseno eluded him, for he knew their names but not the faces to match with them. It did not matter. All that did matter was slipping away, getting back to the Avian and stating his case before the Avian committed to a grave error. Revealing their hand in so conspicuous a manner as this would be disastrous.

Little did his pursuer know, the Avian's designs would place him, Maseno, and Kristen all in danger as well. Something Duresh wanted for none of them.

He made a decision.

And, after landing on the flat rooftop of a three-story multi-family house, Duresh suddenly stopped and turned to face Alistair. He held his bloody sword far out to one side.

"You act as you must," Duresh said. "But I implore you to listen."

Alistair Krixus

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen's world spun horribly. Her heart was pounding painfully behind her ribs. For all the hell she had seen during the assault on Godendrung, for all the fear and adversity she faced there in those forsaken Blightlands teeming with countless savage orcs, all of it paled before the sight of a single man: Duresh. Fear squelched even her shock and sorrow over what happened to her cousin Fyris.

Alistair's voice seemed miles away.

Maseno's, after he grabbed her and lifted her back up, was closer. More immediate. City Guard. Ventress. Kristen would have spoken on either of these had not a dreadful realization seized her then.

Her eyes widened, seeming to look past Maseno in that moment, and she screamed, "VAL!"

Instantly she was in motion. Kristen threw open the office chamber's door and went barreling down the hall. Hurtling down the steps, yelling, "To arms! To arms!" as she passed bewildered and alarmed Pirian-sworn guards, Kristen burst out of the Pirian Manor and was running down the street.

She had to reach Val! Before anything happened!

Maseno Luana Val Pirian

 

[Alistair Krixus]

It was taking every bit of training Alistair had to keep up and it was not pretty. Dreadlords weren't really the jump-across-rooftops type. He should really consider training in that, or maybe just better movement spells.

He was not sure how much longer he could keep up, so he was preparing to take his chance and cast a spell. The spell died on his lips as he slid to a stop to see Duresh had stopped on the roof, a place where he surely could have gotten further away.

Instinctively, Alistair assumed the worse, and eyes across his body lit up searching for traps. He did not see any, but that did little to calm his nerves, especially after what he had just seen.

A moment past as Alistair took a moment to gather his breath and decide on his next course of action...He could do it. He was quick with a spell and could at least get a few shots off before Ulren could run...However, Alistair did not need a body. He needed answers.

"Quick then, you have seconds."

Maseno Luana Kristen Pirian

 

[Maseno Luana]

Maseno felt the drums of his ears pop and for a moment found himself slightly stunned by the unexpected Pirian outburst. Before anything more could be said or done, all six-foot-two of Kristen had turned and bolted through the doors. He stood there momentarily, a bit perplexed. Never before had an Initiate conducted itself with such ... unfettered frenzy. At least, none that he had witnessed, but Kristen was a breed all her own.

With a shake of his head and a short glance down at his blood-splattered robes, he hoofed it after his fellow Initiate and followed her back down through the house. While she sounded the alarm, Maseno followed up with a bit of clarity -

"Secure the perimeter, alert the city guard we have a murderer taken to the rooftops! Green skin, black robes! Armed and dangerous! Dreadlord Krixus is in pursuit - has anyone seen Dreadlord Ventress?!"

He'd paused for only a moment to explain to a Guard Captain that had rushed over, and when he turned back to continue following ... Kristen had vanished just as quickly as their target. Maseno pressed a sharp breath outwards, turning slowly about once as he watched various armed bodies moving quickly to secure the city and follow orders. Kristen was likely going for her next of nearby kin, Alistair was hopefully hot on the heels of the orc, and Ventress was nowhere to be found.

Where, where would she have gone? Should he even bother going to find her for backup or should he focus on following Alistair? He didn't have time to do both and unlike Ventress, he couldn't be in multiple places at once. His hand lashed out to a passing Guard, capturing the man with his unseen powers, "You there! I need your assistance. Find Dreadlord Ventress-"

"Wh-who?!" the Guard yelped back.

"Stately woman, short white hair, golden eyes, dressed in white uniform. Inform the Dreadlord her instincts were right - the Lord has been murdered and the target has taken to the rooftops. Find her quickly and deliver this message!" Maseno then glance down at the shield in the Guard's left hand, "...I require this."

Maz yanked the shield from his grasp and released the Guard to his task. Gesturing to the metal slab, he flipped it face-down in the air, and furrowed his brows. With a sweeping arc of his hand, the shield went sailing forward, skating through the air just a foot above the ground. Hustling to catch up to it, Maz jumped upon it and with a grimace of concentration rode it upwards through the air toward the rooftops to find Alistair and the invisible orc.

 

[Duresh]

Duresh gave the falchion in his hand a little flick.

And said quickly, simply, "The blood on this sword can prevent more from being spilt this day."

Alistair Krixus

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The festival whirled by her. All the revelers, good men and women who had lived in Vel Numera for all their lives, who swore loyalty to House Pirian and served the House faithfully, were all unaware. And this was the most terrifying part. To them all was well, mayhap Kristen's haste proving to be somewhat of a curiosity for some, but otherwise many were blissfully celebrating. They couldn't know what just happened, what kind of danger was poised to befall their beloved city. In truth, not even Kristen knew the extent of it.

But if Duresh himself was here, then she had no doubt that he planned naught but misery and ruin for Vel Numera. Aionus save us all.

She could only hope Val had not gone far from Fountain Square (they hadn't been gone for too long!). Perhaps it was a bit selfish of her to place him as her primary concern, to leave Alistair and Maseno to chase down that monster Duresh by themselves. But Kristen was tormented by the thought that Duresh might not be alone, that some agent of death in league with him might have Val within view even as she was running.

And running.

And running.

Kristen came skidding to a shuddering halt in the middle of Fountain Square, desperately looking around. The dancing circle was still going. The sweets vendor was handing out chocolate confections to three children accompanied by their mother and father. A juggler had drawn a crowd and had six sharp knives all flying in the air in his precarious but wildly entertaining act.

There! Val and Elise had not got too far!

Kristen, her heart pounding, broke into a sprint. She nearly slammed right into one poor fellow (who seemed ready to bellow profanities at her until he saw that it was the Darling Daughter herself) and she narrowly slid right between an elderly couple of farmers who had strolled into her way.

She ran right up to Val, almost unable to stop in time and nearly bowling him over.

"Val!" she said, breathing heavily. "You're in danger! Fyris! Is dead!"

Val Pirian Elise Virak

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair took one step closer, not to show aggression, but more to show annoyance.

"I would advise you to give me a straight explanation now. I am willing to listen, but the others will not when they get here."

This all had to be a part of something bigger. No offense to Kristen's cousin, but he was not important enough to have an assassin sent after him. The killing was a building block for some other puzzle, but he did not know what. He needed more pieces and this man had them.

"Who sent you? Why Fyris? Are there more of you here?"

The last question was the most worrying and immediate. If there were more Forsaken here then more people would end up dead. It was not a question of if they could save them. Some would die and there was nothing that Alistair or the others could do about it. However, maybe they could determine who died.

Maseno Luana Kristen Pirian

 

[Maseno Luana]

Airsurfing.

Of all the skills he'd thought he'd learn from the notorious Dreadlord Zana, this certainly wasn't one of them but damn was it ever fun. Perhaps more than it should be. Always took some time to get the hang of when he first started on, but by the time he'd climbed upwards high enough to view the rooftops of the city he was feeling confident in his game.

Just had to find Alistair and their target before he got tired. That was the key. He kept moving, using the inertia of this momentum to help carry the effort of remaining aloft, and stooped as he peeled around the corner of a church tower. There, just a few lengthy leaps away from the window from which he'd watched the half-orc make his escape, Maseno spied the murderer and Alistair it what appeared to be a stand-off.

He pressed forward, encircling the pair and leaping down from his makeshift ride into a rolling tumble and back to his feet. Now placing Duresh between himself and Alistair on the roof. Maseno slowly righted himself and lifted his hand into the air to catch the shield as it glided back around to him.

The pair appeared to be exchanging words and he'd not interrupt. But he was ready now to back up Alistair however he needed.

 

[Duresh]

His answers were terse, but straight to the point.

"No one sent me, but there are many who are like-minded as I. We seek justice for the Forsaken—" He gave his falchion another little flick, indicating the blood upon it once more, "—against those who are guilty."

Duresh frowned then, pained that what he was about to say was so.

"But some among us are blinded by their rage, wanton in their vengeance. I must convince them to see reason."

His eyes moved while his head stayed still. He was aware of the other Initiate's presence behind him. And he was counting in his head how much longer his protection against magic would last.

Alistair Krixus Maseno Luana

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"I can understand that. The old ways were rougher on your kind more than any others...Give me the names of the ones with rage, the extremist...We can do things differently in the Republic. It does not have to always mean bloodshed."

Alistair's eyes flicked over to Maseno as he landed. He could only inwardly nod in thanks for not acting to drastically.

"We can get you pardons and citizenship. Place your kind on the edges of the Republic where no one will bother you."

It was a simple life that Alistair was describing, one that would certainly not be so simple to intact as it was to just talk about it, but reparations could be made. They should be made. Having the Forsaken as enemies was a lot worse than having them as friends.

"Why Fyris? Why did he deserve justice?"

The Pirian's were often known as the good house. Any negative acts that they may have perpetrated would not look good for them if the information was made public.

Maseno Luana Duresh

 

[Maseno Luana]

Maseno stood ready, waiting, preparing, and inwardly grimacing at the smell of blood now wafting up from his robes.

Gods, Ventress would be so disgusted to see him like his.

 

[Elise Virak]

Elise blinked rapidly as Kristen burst into their conversation from the middle of nowhere, her panicky voice almost cracking as she informed Val that he might be in danger.

"Oh dear!" Elise said almost instantly, gently reaching out and grasping Kristen's shoulders. Her touch soft and calming, her expression twisting with concern as she attempted to catch wind of what was actually going on. "Take a breath, it's okay."

Even as she spoke, her voice calm and soothing, Elise couldn't help but inwardly feel a hint of delight. Wonderful.

She thought to herself. There was really only one Pirian that she had any fondness for, and he was standing besides her. The fewer there were of the others, the more likely it was he would come to power.

The best thing about it all? Whatever was going on she had nothing to do with it.

"Are you alright? Hurt?" Elise asked, the concern in her voice sounding genuine. Her gaze fixed on the young woman, gently pushing her to arms length for a moment before her eyes flickered up and down her form. Clearly searching for any injury she might have. "What's happened?"

 

[Val Pirian]

There was...a lot to say about Elise's predicament. It was true: Viraks and their branches were not like Pirians and theirs. Val knew this well. His parents would never let him forget. That Elise, Aisling, and himself had formed the bond they had over their years was nothing short of a miracle. That his father had trusted Elise enough to work an alliance with her during the rebellion even more so.

Pangs of guilt shot through Val. He found himself wishing he'd been more present, there for Elise more over the years instead of wasting his time on whatever frivolous pursuits had caught his fancy over the last decade. He had always assumed that Elise was simply too busy to be lonely. But lonely she was, surrounded by "family" that sought only her status, her neck, or both.

"I am sorry...I do hope that you can find that in your broth--OOF!"

Interruption came in the form of Kristen's very physical return. Val caught himself, and miraculously, her before either could tumble headlong to the dirt. The act itself was alarming, but the warning that came thereafter was even moreso. Val steadied the girl, hands on her upper arms and brow furrowed as he sought to make sense of what was going on.

"What?! Kristen, what has happened?" He demanded. There was no question of her health from him; Elise had already begged the question, for one, but Val also had a degree of faith in her. If she was in need of aid, she would have made that clear. Instead, her first concern was on *his* safety. That spoke volumes.

"Take a moment, lest your lungs collapse...need I call the stormguard?" Val intoned, gesturing for Kristen to sit by the fountain.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Many questions, all with the same general spirit, and one common sentiment shared between Elise and Val both: slow down and take a breath. Kristen did so, absentmindedly fixing her hair as she stood and as Elise looked her up and down for injury. She completely missed Val's gesture for her to sit, though even if she had noticed it she wouldn't have anyway.

After a few seconds, she could at last wait no longer, "Fyris Pirian," she said to the both of them, "has just been assassinated by a Forsaken!"

She didn't know if either Elise or Val would have any notion of what Forsaken were, she herself only having just learned, but to drive the point home she said further:

"It was Duresh, I know it! The same half-orc who kidnapped me! I know not how much more ill he wishes to perpetrate upon House Pirian, but I fear for you, Val!"

Elise Virak Val Pirian