Legacy of the Black Queen - Main RP Thread

Kingdom of Zakarath - Palace of the Endless Sky - Office of the Queen's Hand

Dame Edith Ras-Tiral stared out of her office window, watching the dark hues of the night sky turn to orange and gold as the sun rose over the kingdom of Zakarath. The things we do to keep the Queen's show running, she thought, and stole a glance at the dog-eared dossiers that lay on her table.

They spoke in euphemisms in her branch. The exile to the Blasted Lands was an "archaeological survey", and the people that Zakarath needed out of the way were "volunteers". She'd organised nearly fifty expeditions expeditions in her time, and watched the eager, wide-eyed enthusiasm of the first batch of victims give way to the jaded, soulless stares of the last. It was common knowledge by now - a trip to the gods-forsaken wasteland in the North seldom ended in a happy homecoming. And so we bid farewell to secrets, she thought.

This time, things were different, or so the research mages told her. They'd picked up subtle fluctuations in the arcane emanations from the Blasted Lands - nothing concrete, they said, but these were patterns that they'd never seen recently... and the closest match that they could find in their records was a definite concern.

There was too much uncertainty, the Queen had said, and ruled out the option of sending an official armed presence into the Blasted Lands to investigate further. Such an act would trigger another war between Zakarath and Godsforge, one which neither side could afford. As for sending the Queen's Hand to secure the site... Dame Edith had, in no uncertain terms, told the Queen that she wasn't going to sacrifice her trained operatives on a suicide mission into the middle of nowhere - not without testing the waters first.

So naturally, the job fell to these five unfortunate souls.

The royal missives had been sent out two weeks ago; the escort party of professional Zakarath pikemen was dispatched several days later, and for the past few days, the new "volunteers" had been living as "guests of the Queen" in specially-assigned quarters - single-room only - with a specially-assigned guard detail... for their safety, she'd explained. Of course, their weapons had to be temporarily surrendered, as was Palace protocol, but they were necessary concessions in this day and age.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," said Dame Edith, and shifted a hand to the pommel of her ever-present dagger. Fortunately for the assistant who walked in, she wasn't the type to stab first and ask questions later, but that didn't stop him from watching her every move with a look of wary respect.

"The meeting room's ready, milady. When do you want to meet the pri-" Edith glared witheringly at the young man, who instantly corrected himself. "-ah, 'volunteers'?"

"Have them down in half an hour."

edited 12th May '14 4:01:33 AM by Pyrite

"Yes, I understand that much, but are you sure I can't even send a letter? My parents will want to know I've arrived," the young woman said to her guard as the messenger opened her door. From the tone of her voice, it wasn't the first time she'd broached the topic, either since she'd arrived or that day. She looked surprisingly well-rested for the early hour, though, and greeted the messenger with a genuine-looking, if somewhat exasperated, smile.

"Good morning, sir," she said, standing and giving him a quick curtsy. "My name is Jhelani Elinh. Do you know when the Queen will be seeing us? It's been several days already, and while I would never question Her Majesty's hospitality, the summons I received seemed a little... urgent."

Tea is the drink of the devil, Riviera was firmly convinced. It was concocted as a punishment in the coldest, darkest depths, that those drunk on the illusions of image and hubris of men shan’t ever again enjoy the frothy, cool mead nor the sweetness of honeyed warm milk. Such is politicking – even a country bumpkin like herself quickly learns that it is all in the projection of confidence- a noble always have all the answer, especially when they haven’t yet comprehended the question- that, and not-so-subtly rubbing your sense of superiority into the face of everyone you meet and getting away with it.

No matter. She’d been brought up to speed of the open secret of the “expedition” and other such interesting morsels of knowledge in the grand web that is boredom-fueled gossip. The pikemen were tensed – her people so hospitably seeing them out well into the main road didn’t help - , but the guard details – organized by rotation, from Mr. Nick with a portly wife and two daughters, Mrs. Erin with the magi-aspirant sister, and poor Mr. “Black” who so dearly wishes to elope with one of the castle’s chef, yet must support his ailing father – have proved amiable to her coaxing questions. People were almost always willing to share their life stories if you meant it about being interested, and trickles of juicy secrets abound when the floodgate opens.

Putting down her tea and smiling –radiantly- in a sharp contrast of an earnest maiden and elegant duchess at the messenger, she said, “Greetings, Ser. Does the Dame have need of me?”

Doctor Nicholas Barnett was bored. Upon being seized and taken to the palace, he had had no time to prepare books or other preferred ways of entertainment. Oh, there were books available in the small bookshelf in the guest room, but none that a man of his intellect had not already read, found to be too simple-minded or both. He had implored the guards to bring him better books or alternative ways of entertaining himself, but they had only given him common fairytales and a pack of cards. At this point, solitary card games were boring him immensely, and the only entertainment that could be reaped from the pack of cards was by tearing the picture cards into small pieces and then amuse himself by healing the paper cards together as if they were a jigsaw puzzle. The doctor had asked if they could not ask the court magician for a good read on magic theory, but after some nervous shuffling about, they had chosen not to acquiesce to his request. Quite irritating!

Some might theorize at this point that the doctor was in fact not bored, but simply trying to distract his mind from whatever punishment the Queen had planned for him. But in truth, no such thought passed through the doctor's head. In his mind, his person was infallible and forever in the right, and there was no doubt that the Queen had either brought him here for a task that only he could perform or in a way reward him for his services to his populace. Indeed, he held no fear for his life, because to him, his life was an invaluable gift to mankind that no one in their right mind could consider taking from the world.

But whatever her Majesty's reasons for bring him here, he hoped she would be quick about it. His services were required out there. Calmly, he shredded the Ace of Diamonds between his fingers and started to reassemble it.

Sarah Wrynn was most definitely not in good spirits as she awaited upon what she had recognized as her 'cell'. She had bought the whole being placed in a room for her own protection deal the first day... but as she listened to the gossip of the guards and the time passed, the reality of the matter started to dawn on her.

She was not guilty of anything. She was trying to mend a wrongdoing and protect her people from the imposed rule one who had unlawfully claimed their lands as his right. As a woman of letters, of law, one whose family had sacrificed so much so that she could learn and be educated, to be kept in a gilded cage like this by the very woman that was meant to be the embodiment of all law on the kingdom was a slap on the face.

And so, without anything else to do but to stew in her own indignation, Sarah tried to pass the time as best as she could. She made some sketches of the view out of her window, kept a light journal and tried to keep her suit in the best condition possible. She didn't wear the fine garment all the while... that would only dirty it. However, everyday she did put it on during the hours she thought most likely to meet someone in. If she had learned something in the court of her sole ally, the Count of her province, it was that appearances were important when nobility was concerned.

Thus it was that the moment she was called on to step out of her cell, Sarah Wrynn was immaculately dressed and washed, sitting on her bed and ready to meet her jailers. And if they expected to meet a country bumpkin tripping over her notes on her case, she planned to challenge those expectations with all she had.

Mark had his back turned to the door as he heard much more activity than he had in the last few days. It looked like it was time. He sighed, and discreetly threw aside the tail of a mouse he had caught as he heard the footsteps approaching. With a quick slide of his foot, the hay he had ground into paste using a water cup and a rock was now under the bed. The powdered minerals he had been trying to extract from the walls looked like nothing more that dust and dirt on the ground, if anyone were even to look. The numerous materials he had been working on were all out of view by the time the footsteps approached his room.

He had tried to pass the time by challenging himself to making any sort of explosive concoction using nothing but what he could find in his room, and the sweat of his brow. As well as his own labor. Not for any practical use, not if he wanted his brother to make it out alive, but when men are denied something, they always set out to prove to themselves that it is still within their reach. Sadly, it seemed like he just didn't have enough time.

By the time the door opened, he was now simply an impeccably dressed well-to-do merchant sitting rather bored-like on his bed. The Marcus Escalonius who certainly paid his fair share of taxes, rather than the Mark E who wanted nothing more than to lodge an arbalest bolt into the Queen's temple, if only he weren't so vulnerable at the moment. "Ah, excellent, thank you my good man," he said. "I take it her majesty has seen fit to summon me?"

Kingdom of Zakarath - Palace of the Endless Sky

Jhelani's Room

"Can't say, missy." The messenger looked almost apologetic. "I'm just a running boy for Dame Edith, and all I know is, she wants you down in the meeting room now. So if you'd kindly follow me..."

Riviera's Room

"She does." The maidservant who'd been sent to fetch her was stern, almost severe, in her greeting. "And that's all I'm allowed to say on the matter, but since you know that it's the Dame who's seeing you this day... I wouldn't be smiling." With that, she turned her back on Riviera, and signalled for the attending guards to escort their guest down. "The meeting room is this way."

Nicholas's Room

There was a knock on the door, and an old man's muffled voice was heard faintly from the outside. "Dr. Barnett? Dame Edith will see you now."

Sarah's Room

"Miss Wrynn..." The man who walked in paused, and raised an eyebrow. "I see you're ready. Follow me, then."

Mark's Room

"Dunno about Her Majesty, Mister." A non-committal shrug of the shoulders from the messenger. "But the Dame wants to have a word with you, and that's never a good thing."

Office of the Queen's Hand - Meeting Room

The Palace of the Endless Sky was notorious for its complicated architecture - a veritable maze of twisting and winding hallways that the inexperienced would easily get lost in. A common urban legend was that of the man- or maid-servant who got lost on the first day of work and was never seen again, although the more uncharitable members of the public would attribute such disappearances to "displeasing the Queen" in one way or another.

The guards led the Queen's guests on wordlessly down the corridors, the long, interminable walk punctuated only by the odd servant who turned their faces away as the party passed by... although if one was quick enough, one might've been able to capture a fleeting image of a face that showed equal parts pity and fear. One by one, each escort arrived at the hallway's end, where a pair of sturdy wooden doors opened up into a meeting room.

The meeting room itself was sparsely decorated. Aside from the large round table and chairs that had been placed in the centre, there was precious little to liven up the room - not a single tastefully-nude statue or decorative urn was in sight. The one concession to art that remained in the room was a small portrait of a rider on horseback on one of the walls, but this was clearly a room for business, not pleasure.

Still, if a room was well-lit, well-ventilated and well-secured, that was good enough for Dame Ras-Tiral. She was standing with her back turned to the entrance, and if she'd heard the party coming, she betrayed no sign of it.

"Tough luck," one of the guards said, and shut the doors on them.

edited 13th May '14 1:06:42 AM by Pyrite

"So...." Mark said, leaning back in his chair. "I take it you guys are all innocent too, right?"

He chuckled dryly. "Such a pleasure to be able to volunteer for such a prestigious honor."

Riviera waved enthuastically upon meeting each of her fellow "volunteers", and sat directly opposite the Dame. She seems the serious type, unlikey to engage in the tiresome theratical "Jump, How high?, Insolence!" routine.

She sent a secret smile Mark's way, one that says Your sacrasm was so thick you could cut it with a knife, and you just about beats me to it.

"Indeed. I'm Riviera of Ark, and you must be Dame Edith Ras-Tiral. It is an honour to meet such a distinguished persona."

With great effort, Riviera have learned the vaunted skill of leaving air quotes completely mental.

Risks annoying her a bit with this pre-empt, but hopefully it'll draw her attention. Riviera thought, clasping her hands together and sitting straight.

Jhelani perched in her chair with the grace and poise of a noblewoman, looking carefully around at her fellow - she didn't want to use the word 'captives', even just in thinking it. They were a very strange collection of people. One looked like a Lady, another like the kind of man her brothers had warned her about. She wondered if any of them were actually criminals. She played with the fall of hair in front of her left ear, a nervous tic, watching the Dame closely.

Doctor Nicholas entered, giving a short bow to her Ladyship before looking around at his...what were they? Fellow visitors? Like him, they seemed to have been brought here by force, and not quite happy about it. Himself included, they numbered two men and three women. The one closest to him in age seemed to be a high-ranking soldier, from her build and no-nonsense manner. The two youngest were also women. Both seemed to be no stranger to this kind of setting, from their dress and manner, but they were not nobility. And then there was the other man. While his clothes were of a fine cut, his demeanour and speech betrayed him as a man no father would trust his daughter with. And then himself, the genius healer. All in all, a strange collection of people.

Sarah let out a little cough after a few moment of awkward silence after the rather unsavory seeming man had made his sarcasm dripping comment "Well then, I guess I shall be introducing myself first" Her voice was nice and clear, though her words were clearly marked in a manner those who were well traveled may recognize as an accent from the southern provinces.

"I am Sarah Wrynn of Heartglenn. I represent my city in correcting a mistake involving a wrongfully appointed governor. I don't know what's this of being innocent or volunteering for some honor as I just wish to settle this matter peacefully and giving the Queen as little problem as possible" says Sarah, her green eyes big and bright as she considers everyone around her and then bows her head to the Dame.

edited 13th May '14 11:26:58 AM by daltar

Somewhat heartened by the blonde woman's words, Jhelani sat a little straighter, clasping her hands in her lap. "My name is Jhelani Elinh, of the Elinh Trading House," she said, looking around at the others. Maybe they'd recognize the name? Maybe not, though. "I don't know what I'm doing here, either. I was told that the Queen required my assistance in identifying someone dangerous to the realm, but I've been in the capital for four or five days now and no one's asked me a thing, just kept me practically locked in a room."

Doctor Nicholas nodded to himself as the two youngest introduced themselves. They both seemed like respectable persons and contributors to society, further raising questions about why they had been brought here. He decided that he should go next in introducing himself, should they have failed at already recognizing him from his reputation.

"I am doctor Nicholas Barnett, expert healer at your service. I can cure any disease and mend any wound, and my expertise is well renowned. Where some doctors waste their days in ivory towers showing off their measly abilities to those who grovel at their feet, I travel the land and generously offer my help to any person who has not already passed over the final threshold."

He glanced over at her Ladyship, with her back still turned.

"And while I of course recognize the honour I have been shown by being taken to the Royal Palace, I nevertheless find this current situation troubling. Whether my services are being requested or rewards offered for my work, I would wish for these events to proceed quickly so that I may resume my important work."

Office of the Queen's Hand - Meeting Room

"Honour!" The silver-haired woman turned to face the five, laughing icily at the word. "It is a matter of honour, no doubt - but it's up to you to salvage what remains of yours."

She took her place at the table, placing the weighty dossiers before her - not that she needed them, for she'd memorised their contents long before. Still, it would remind the "guests" of their place. "Save the pleasantries. Some of you have no idea why you're here... and some of you know exactly why you're here." She turned her eyes toward Mark and Riviera, meeting their gazes with a killing glare of her own. "For the benefit of the clueless, let me explain."

"Jhelani Elinh. Since you mentioned it, it's only right that you should be told. That very expensive shipment that passed through your hands about a month ago came from Godsforge, and contained enough arms to supply a small militia. Some were even magical... and you know how dangerous those can be, don't you, girl?" She paused, watching for a reaction. "Your services in this matter are no longer needed, as the conspirators were rounded up and are currently dangling from gibbets along our mutual borders. But still, your carelessness has caused us no end of trouble. Be glad that we still have a use for you, or it would've been the rack and thumbscrews."

"Sarah Wrynn. Your deeds have reached the ears of the Queen, and unfortunately for you... she is not entirely pleased, even if she does recognise that the 'mayor's' appointment was illegal; such news never goes down well with the nobility. We will be investigating this, and the fraud is being called to answer for his actions, just as you will be called to answer for yours. Unfortunately, while I have no issue with young women getting an education, prepare to be disappointed if you came here hoping to defend your case in a court of law."

"Nicholas Barnett. The word among your colleagues is that you've become a 'killer of children and old men'." Another pause for emphasis, another look around the table. "Not everyone has objections with what you're doing, and we recognise your services in assisting the Crown during some of the more... embarrassing episodes, shall we say. But as things stand, you're a liability to the royal court. We need a doctor with better bedside manners."

"Marcus Escalonius." She gestured to a dossier which was at least three times as thick as the others. "At this point, it would be easier to list what you haven't done. If it was possible to hang you seven times over, we would've done so long ago, but the rule of law still protects you for now - technically. So the Queen sends her regards, and wants you to know that it would be a shame if one of your concoctions ended up in your brother's dinner."

"And you, Riviera of Ark. You play a dangerous game in the dealings between Ark and Silvershard - high treason, and nothing less. You deserve to hang next to the arms dealers, but we'll not make a martyr of you - not the way Godsforge did to Zakarath the First, gods rest her Majesty's soul."

"At best, you are embarrassments to the country; at worst, you are threats to national security. So the Queen makes this offer: serve your kingdom this once, and all charges will be dropped. If not... there are less savoury ways for the kingdom to be rid of a thorn in its side."

Dame Ras-Tiral folded her hands, her litany over.

edited 14th May '14 8:35:18 AM by Pyrite

Jhelani swallowed hard, her mouth full of ashes and her face pale. Arms dealers? Treason? Torture? Part of her wanted to say something, anything, but her tongue was leaden and her lips felt sewn shut. She looked down at her feet and hugged her stomach, which had rather suddenly started to hurt.

Ignoring the Dame's word for the moment, Riviera reaches a hand to clasp Jhelani's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. Satisfied with what she judged to be a gesture of solidarity, she turns back to steadily meet the Dame's glare, a glint of steel behind her eyes but with a smile on her lips.

"My, you would compares little old me - a mere Magistrate - to Zakarath the Great herself? You do me too much honour, Dame Edith.

I will not excuse my deeds, Dame. Everything I did, bloods I spewed, and friendships I started, I did for my people - citizens of Zarkarath, no less than the nobles who fed on fatted calf and fine wine."

Gazing to the varied reactions of her fellows, she continues- the smile transforming into a tight frown, and her eyes as Coldiron.

"And I resent your insinuations."

edited 14th May '14 4:08:22 PM by Pblades

"I don't think my brother has a medical prescription for any of the completely legal alchemical supplies I sell that would be capable of killing a man, but he's the only reason I'm here," Mark said to Dame Ras-Tiral, a grimace on his face. "You don't need to sugarcoat this for me. You already have my balls in a vise, and I already came here instead of using the two-weeks notice you gave me to move to Godsforge. You really I'm going to turn down your offer now? The sooner you tell us what this game of yours is, the sooner I can clear my name."

"Though..." he added with a grin. "Maybe you have more need of me than I thought. I know for damned sure that of all the preposterous charges you keep trying to pin on me, you don't have treason or high treason in that little book of yours. I'm a loyal citizen of the Kingdom, after all."

Sarah remained quiet for more than a few moments... biting her lip, her obscured as she looks down and her bangs cover them... her hands closing into fists. Her mind was working quickly, sorting through all the words said, their meaning and what awaited her.

After a few seconds, she lifted her sight a little... looking up at the Dame to ask "Just to be clear... I am to share the fate of a traitor, a criminal and a murderer... because I exposed an injustice? Because I even tried to be discreet not to bring trouble? Did having a country girl notice an unlawful appointment when it means the safety of her home bring so much embarrassment to the court that they would strike at me with such spite?"

"My village needs me... I am the last the Druid South of the Eversong Forest. My family, my community sacrificed a lot so that I would learn what I have... so that I may be useful to them. My life is not my own. What is this so called service that is asked of me?"

"You sit within the Palace of the Endless Sky, and neither tears nor threats will help your cases here - only proof of your loyalty to the Kingdom. Should you wish to forfeit your lives and all that you hold dear, the door is that way." The Dame remained unswayed. "As for the task required of you, it should be fairly straightforward in the planning, if not the execution. We have reason to believe that we've located an artefact from the time of the Great War, and all you need to do is to go and get it..."

She rose and unfurled a map across the table, which showed the division of the region into three roughly-equal parts. To the East lay Godsforge, and Zakarath opposed it in the West, each kingdom dotted and decorated with tiny red dots that represented their towns and villages, and festooned with the markings of roads and rivers; but to the North, bordering both kingdoms, lay a region that was almost devoid of drawn features - an empty, foreboding void which bore only the words, "The Blasted Lands", and a crudely-drawn blue ring lying smack in the middle of the featureless zone.

Dame Edith was pointing to it.

"...from over there."

edited 16th May '14 4:11:36 PM by Pyrite

Jhelani sat back in her chair as the import of the map sank in, making her feel a little faint. This whole thing was starting to seem like a horrible dream, one that was in no hurry to let her wake up. "W-" Her tongue, dry and heavy, made her stumble over her words. She swallowed and tried again. "Wouldn't it be better to send soldiers? Or real treasure hunters?" Or anyone but them? A criminal, a traitor, a surgeon, a lawyer and a merchant. What did she expect was going to happen? Jhelani hugged her stomach again, looking down at her knees. She got the feeling the Dame's answer wouldn't matter anyway.

"Oh, she can't do that, now can she?" Marcus said rhetorically as he looked at the map. "Real people aren't expendable. This isn't a job she can send her soldiers on, this isn't anything people with any value to the Kingdom can go on - this is an execution, no other way of looking at it. But this here artifact is our ticket back into the world of the living. So if the good Queen is good to her word, then there's no way in the seven hells that I won't get my hands on that godsdamned thing and get my life back. But for now, we're all already dead, the only thing that changes if you start crying and complaining that life isn't fair is that her majesty will think our graves are lonely. You got a sister? Brother? Mom? Dad? You want them to breathe a few more days, get your shit together."

He looked back at the Dame. "So you have anything more specific than artifact to go on?"

"You're... you must be freaking kidding me"

That was all that Sarah was able to say for a few moments... looking at the area they were sent off to. The Blasted Lands. A land of death. A land from which nobody ever came back from.

She set her elbows on the table, covering her face with her hands as she took deep breaths, frustration, fear and rage all swirling inside of her until she felt like she would be sick. Even after a minute or two passed, she didn't feel any better... but her weak voice did ring out and said, while she kept her head low and held by her hands "What... he asked... What is it? How did you learn of it... we'll need all you know if you have any hope of us recovering it"

edited 16th May '14 11:23:34 PM by daltar

"Very perceptive, Escalonius. There might be a job offer in this for you if you survive." Dame Edith gave him the faintest hint of a smile - which vanished in the very next moment. "But you made one mistake. Yes, all five of you are expendable, but if we'd intended to execute you, we'd have thrown you straight out into the Blasted Lands two weeks ago. Unlike the previous batches, though, we'd actually prefer it if you came back alive and successful."

The spymistress unfurled another roll of parchment onto the table, this one full of arcane symbols and graphs which had been drawn in, meticulously, in varying colours of ink. "I don't expect you all to know this, but the Queen's mages monitor the magic levels in the Blasted Lands on a regular basis. There's a lot of residual magic from the time of the Great War over there - most of it has seeped into the land itself, but from time to time we get the odd blip on the seeing-stones - specific patterns which suggest the presence of a spell focus. Most of them are false alarms: trinkets like an ancestral family keepsake or a luck charm, for all the good it did the poor sod. We're quite familiar with those, because they usually fall into the hands of villagers from the northern towns - some of them make an illegal living from selling the items that they find while scavenging along the borders - at their own risk." She pointed to one of the smaller graphs on the left of the parchment, which showed a number of discordant patterns. "Weapons-grade artefacts are usually located much further away from the borders, but since the Blasted Lands were demilitarised, neither Zakarath nor Godsforge are permitted to officially conduct retrieval operations. The less you ask, the better." Her finger then moved to the graphs on the right of the parchment - more inscrutable scribbles, but these ones looked more uniform in their shape and size. "Despite our limitations, we've manage to collect a fair number of... signatures, let us say, which allow us to distinguish artefacts of Zakarath and Godsforge origin."

One last movement, this time to the centre of the parchment which showed two graphs circled in red. One had been labelled, "Comparison of waveforms for Unknown Artefact 291 and Zakarathian weapons." It matched well.

"A few weeks ago, we started picking up new readings from the very heart of the Blasted Lands, and it looks like we've got a Zakarath weapon over there. The problem is, there was another similar result when the mages searched the libraries..."

The other graph had been labelled, "Comparison of waveforms for Unknown Artefact 291 and Crown Jewels of Zakarath," and this one showed a much closer match.

"...and there's only one artefact in the records that matches the description of both a weapon and a royal heirloom - the Spear of the Black Queen."

"A spear?" Mark replied. "A spear? There must be a million spears between here and the Blasted Lands, and who knows how many in that place have magic seeped into them. I'm not going to go all the way there, and back, just to wind up with the wrong spear, so you better have a better way for us to find it. This spear at least look special? Got any marks on it? Anything unique? Made out of dragon bone and diamond? And hells, that's if we're even able to find it. You have a portable one of those seeing-stones Or are we just supposed to use a shovel and look around?