Cold Hearts IC Thread

[Zephyr]

Kelarith growled and shook his head, replacing his Draich. How he loathed such useless displays of 'strength'. It seemed that most Druchii were like lazy Hydras in a cave snapping at each other to get more space yet remain lying down, not bothering to get up. It were social interactions such as these that he knew he did not belong in society anymore.
He crossed his arms and stood back waiting for December to speak.

Kelarith hated stories of murder, it was the actual killing that mattered not boasting. Khaine never showed His favor towards the best story-teller. His hand reached towards the small pouch on his belt, the bone fragments clinked around as his fingers caressed it gently; a pleasing sound to his ears. A sound that helped him relax.

 

[Mello]

December chuckled melodically and swept the part of his hair that had been disturbed back into place.

"Well, if you'd let me indulge myself."

He extended a long, thin, perfectly manicured finger, eyes seemingly demonic.

"We have Mythas the parent murderer, Arkeith the bored noblemen, Kelarith the executioner, who is here I guess to keep an eye on you and recruit those who do well.

Mythas' childhood spoke volumes, so I just needed to find a successful, antisocial loner, with the same weapon.
Arkeith, you must have been new, because as of last weak I hadn't seen you until I saw you with Mythas scaling someone's roof. And by I, I obviously mean one of my... uhm... business associates?
And I have one or two friends in the temple." he smiled lavishly. "But telling would ruin the game wouldn't it."

Turning back to Indoril he clapped his hands slowly, the sound echoing harshly.

"Oh my, how clever of you. Use another brothel. Sadly my friend, I own, well last time I checked, four fifths of all the other brothels. Now should you wander into one of the ones I look after. You'll be finding.."

He paused and rummaged around in his pockets, he procured a small vial containing a completely clear liquid. It almost looked empty.

"One of these. I believe this is your favorite poison. It's what your, how did you put it, "favorites" told me."

Chucking the priceless vial over his shoulder, it shattered and wasted its contents on the wall. Shrugging he giggled and looked at Indoril.

"Of course I could have just killed you, but that would have been so childish of me."

 

[The Archivist]

January tapped her broomstick against the floor.
"Dec, stop playing with them and get to the point. Guys, stop standing there baring your hackles."
She took a scarf from a pocket and wrapped it around her neck.

 

[Malochai]

Indoril let go of his crossbow, dropping the incredibly sturdy weapon to the stone floor and, with the rasp of steel on steel, his sword was in his hand and at the intruder's throat. "One more word," he growled, "I beg of you, one more word." The threat was obvious, and Indoril pressed the incredibly sharp point of the weapon slightly harder into the other Druchii's neck, drawing a nick of blood which trickled down the cursed steel.

With a snarl at December, Indoril glanced sideways at January. "Speak for him now, woman, or I will presume he is wasting our time, and he is dead."

 

[Get of W'soran]

Arkeith kept his concealed hand on the hilt of his knife but his amused expression was gone replaced by a thoughtful frown.

"Bored nobleman?" he murmured as he stared at December before shifting his gaze to the intruder's sister.

"I must say Jan, as it stands the chance of your brother leaving here a corpse seems extremely likely."

The knight scratched his chin.

"Maybe it'd be best if Lord Indoril just finished the elf and let us get on about our business."

"But why would just a wealthy and powerful person come here alone." he thought to himself with confusion "He puts himself in a great deal of danger..."

 

[Mello]

December's smile remained resolute, he seemed confident he wouldn't be killed.

"I plan to kill the leader of Karond Kar, this wonderful, disease ridden, slave infected, whorehouse" the last remark being directed with a smirk at Indoril "place of a city."

After waiting for that to sink in, he spread his hands, like a messiah.
.
"Naturally the first thing you probably think of is 'And how will I be paid?' Simple, the ruler who will replace the current one, we will make sure of that after all, has half of an instantly deadly poison inside of him, I have the second half and will kill him with it if he doesn't pull the strings in the way I want him to."

He chuckled satisfied and raised one hand to push Indoril's sword away.

"Sound like a big enough challenge?".

His eyes sparkled with intellect. He looked genuinely happy.

 

[Malochai]

"The thing which instantly strikes me, is that you want the power to pull the strings. Over my dead body, and the others here, I'm sure, will you have sole power over the new Vaulkhar," Indoril snarled, replacing his sword at the hollow of December's neck. "And if we were to agree, I'd want my cut before we attempt it. I don't trust you to keep your word, if you think you have the Vaulkhar in your palm."

 

[Zephyr]

Kelarith still caressed the pouch, the bone shards clicking and tinkling. He did not care what December knew about him nor what he had told. Secrets were held by individuals not the tools of Khaine also, he'd been clear to the others why he was here wasn't he?
Even if he had not done so it did not take much brain power to figure out that he was here to check for potential Temple assassins.

His voice barely a whisper he spoke; "This city is an abomination to our Lord. The Temple too empty...lives sacrificed to feed nothing but empty egos.
The Hag herself has spoken to me that the 'leader' of this city is not only weak but a possible heretic."

He stopped twirling around the shards in the pouch and looked up at December, his steely eyes meeting the other Druchii's look.

"I will glady rip out his heart, with bare hands if I must and place it upon the city's main altar."
The voice inside of him roared with laughter, apparantly pleased with the slaughter to come.

"I do not care if you rule in his stead or put a puppet of yours in place but rest assured December, you cross the Temple in any way my Draich will find your neck eventually."

 

[Get of W'soran]

Arkeith raised an eyebrow at the proposal, it was interesting but...dangerous.

The knight glanced at Kelarith.

"I was going to voice concern that the temple would take offense at us slaughtering the Drachau but apparently those are unjustified."

He turned back to look at December
"So I'll voice another instead. One does not simply kill a Drachau and just stride up the steps to take his seat, but let us assume that you have all that planned out and can assure his safe Ascension...there will be in-depth investigations after the murder of a city's ruler, are you so sure that nothing can be traced back to you or indeed us? I would hate to go through the trouble just to simply see the pawn removed from play."

Despite what he said Arkeith was very interested and couldn't resist the smile that was tugging at his lips.

 

[Mello]

December smirked and tossed his hair, madness fleeting through his eyes.

"This is all very trivial. People investigate? We kill them. People riot? Kill them also. The best way to control a city is through fear, all of you must know that the best. Besides, it's not a huge concern if my puppet dies, I'll just do this whole process again." he chuckled happily.

Putting a hand over his mouth to cover a smile he turned to Indoril.

"Oh and don't worry, that whole thing was a total bluff on my part. I just couldn't resist." he shook his head with amusement. "I don't own a single brothel and I just threw some water over my shoulder."

"Oh and by all means take your share first. Business first as they say."

Producing a small bag he tossed it to Indoril. It contained around thirty of a familiar looking clear liquid in a glass bottle.

"Test them if you like, they're the real thing." He said, his face more impassive now, yet his eyes still glittering.

 

[The Archivist]

January looked around the cave at the others.
"I'm in, if you hadn't already realised. I am looking forward to impersonating someone ranking so highly..."

 

[Malochai]

"You play a dangerous game, trifling with my irritation," he spat as he lowered his sword and caught the pouch. With a grunt, he looped it onto his belt and then looked at December blankly. "I'll take more from the Vaulkhar's quarters, I think. This is paltry payment for what we are expected to do.
"Anyway, I assume you have a more thorough plan than 'poison him'?"

 

[Get of W'soran]

Arkeith massaged his temple as he felt the beginnings of a migraine.

"Rioting peasants? Even highborn? Who cares..." he thought to himself "I'm more concerned with agents of the witch-king."

Arkeith felt that December didn't have a brilliant intellect at all, he was just mad.

However as the knight shrugged he still smiled.

"And yet the idea still appeals to me..." he wondered silently "Perhaps we're all a little mad."

"I suppose I'm in, challenges are why I joined this lovely group after all."

 

[Mello]

December's eyes twinkled.

"Oh we're not poisoning him, I plan on kidnapping him, make him watch the take-over, then publicly execute him. By your hand Executioner."

December extended a slender finger to Kelarith and smiled invitingly.

 

[Malochai]

"So what are our roles? And do we have a way into the Vaulkhar's palace?"

 

[Get of W'soran]

Arkeith grinned at the other highborn.

"What's wrong Lord Indoril? Don't have friends in the homes of the High and Mighty?"

Chuckling at his own words he looked over at December.
"Have you an entrance and exit strategy?"

 

[The Archivist]

January snorted and looked at Indoril with amusement
"Knowing December, he's got a bit more than just a single straight plan, right brother? Set things up properly rather than charging in with no real plan other than to take on a large group of soldiers with only two assassins..." she lowered her eyelids with a smile as she continued to stare pointedly at Indoril. "The real question is who the first target is..."

 

[Zephyr]

Kelarith merely nodded in acknowledgement. It would be good, not only would that particular death be a welcome breath of fresh air in the city but also a powerful message; the Temple was not to be messed with, even those deemed untouchable would sooner or later be dealt with.

He waited for the others to further form their plan. It had to be pretty elaborate, after all, this would be the biggest thing this group had ever done. Kelarith had to pay close attention now, these were the sort of missions where the true assassins would show their worth. The ones worthy of Temple training even at an older age.

 

[Malochai]

Ignoring the slight by January, Indoril turned to Arkeith. "I have no wish to exploit favours amongst the other Druchii lords and ladies for someone else's gain," he snorted. "And there is no way I will put myself in debt to them. Do you have any idea how the lords and ladies amongst our society work?" His tone was condescending, and he sneered gruesomely, marring his handsome features with the act. "The promises I'm owed are for those times when it benefits me."

 

[Get of W'soran]

Arkeith flashed an amused grin at Indoril's response, he was really starting to like the other elf.

"I suppose I don't know much about how the aristocracy operate." replied the Scion of what had not long ago been one of Har Ganeth's most powerful and ancient noble families.

Tilted his head his grin faded to his usual smirk.
"That's too bad, using your name to open doors would make things much easier." he said in a tone that made it hard to tell if he was being serious or mocking.

Turning back to December he raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response to his earlier question.

 

[Malochai]

Indoril spat at Arkeith's feet and turned his back on him, snarling. "Do you have a way into the Drachau's palace or not?"

 

[Get of W'soran]

Arkeith chuckled softly without removing his gaze from December.

 

[Mello]

December smiled and unravelled a intricate map. onto the cave floor, seemingly unconcerned about the slight damp seeping through the delicate paper.

"As I'm sure you well know, our 'Beloved leader' takes his personal security very very seriously. AS such all his castle and estate is one island, completely walled off to make it impassable from all but the front bridge, which is guarded so ridiculously, I would honestly say the guards probably have difficulty moving without accidentally stabbing each other.

So.." chuckling, he crossed his arms.

"Shall we find a way to scale the walls or shall we fight our way through. If we do it fast enough we should be able to stop any alert reaching anyone important, or we could create an angry mob as a distraction, so on and so forth. You know yourselves better than I do. Over the wall or across the bridge?"

A la VAU, please vote in bold. Map is attatched. We will vote for each stage of the mission one by one so that everyone understands the mission and I don't have to write an Epic about the entire plan simultaneously, and you get some choice :tongue:

 

[Malochai]

"This attack is pure suicide," Indoril murmured to himself grimly, shaking his head, a smile splitting his face. "Trying to fight our way through and hoping a message can be stopped is pure foolishness! We need to go in quietly, and that means over the wall.
"Let us not forget, the convent will be there. Should they detect a threat by us, we will never manage to get to the Drachau, let alone kill him or escape!"

Vote: Over the wall

 

[Get of W'soran]

Arkeith frowned thoughtfully looking down at the paper.

"As much as I enjoy a good fight, trying to fight our way through" he waved his hand at the map "that would indeed be suicidal, we'd never manage it without the guards getting a message off to their superiors and I dread to think what kind of support they'd call in." he finished thinking of the sorceresses.

"Even if we somehow managed to get through our target would simply flee."

He looked up and grinned at the others "So I say we take a more low-key approach."

Vote: Over the wall.