The shrouded man sniffed. "Very well, in that case you can help us. We are looking for the Source. We had plans to take it with us, but as it turns out we need to destroy it."

"Oh?" Iam asked, looking around thoughtfully as the other two men sheathed the weapons.

"Oh?" The shrouded man mocked, "did you not read your papers? Do you have no brain? The Source here...is tied to something else, we do not know what but we know we can't move it on our own. So we must destroy it. But first, we must find it. Our agents are scouring this trivial country as we speak, but we have certain information that it is in the castle - or close by."

"I will ignore your mockeries for now, as you do not know who I am. As for the Source, I am not aware of its location, but I do know someone who might know about its whereabouts. His name is Athenos. He is a fellow receiver of the scroll. As with me, our master also made sure he received a scroll as well. However, Athenos does not work for us and he knows not my true intentions, so please, do not act careless around him, he is quite intelligent. He should be joining us shortly, but if you are impatient, you can continue to search around here for the Source. Also, I came up here with a man named Dan, but he lagged behind a little. He also does not know of our operations, so put on an act when he finally joins us, and please do not kill him, I have a few more uses of him. As for anyone else, deal with them as you please."

Perk up at the mention of a princess. "Princess? Where? We must go to save her this instant!"

Charge into the castle, follow Athenos.

The shrouded character stared at Iam for a second. "Of course, should they join us," he added icily, turning his back to Iam. Edward and Lester approached the shrouded character and they stood in a triangle, hands out and facing up. There is a sudden explosion of fire beneath them on a lower floor, followed by a trail of sparks of no origination traveling across the room. "See to his friends," the shrouded character murmured to Lester and Edward, "I plan on teaching this one a lesson."

Lester and Edward pushed past Iam, running out into the stairwell where Dan is waiting. Weapons bared, they face Dan, ready to fight.

Once Lester and Edward leave, six equally shrouded characters suddenly appear in the room. It is shocking, to say the least, as this magic should not exist. "You should have quit talking at the beginning, I may have believed you then." Three of the shrouded companions walk toward Iam slowly. They appear unarmed.

Beneath them, Athenos, Rozen and the princess hear the commotion from upstairs as well as the explosion from downstairs.

Surprised by the quick figure, Athenos took a step back and began to enter a fighting pose. Upon realizing the form, he halted and relaxed. Her pose was sloppy and she had no weapons; it was the princess.

"Relax, I'm a friend," he stated as calmly as he could. He did not wish to frighten her.

He heard an explosion from below and commotion above.

"Well, let's see if we can't find a way out of here."

[[ Scan the area, look for a way out into the courtyard. ]]

Drink alertness tonic and prepare for a fight.

*cracks knuckles*

"Master won't be pleased, oh no, he won't be pleased at all. I knew you and I would never be good friends, but I did give you a chance. Just remember that. I did give you a chance. All you are is a puppet, and when puppets begin to misbehave and act on their own accord, you know what happens? Their strings are cut. I care not whose side you are on, you shall die by my blade, but before that happens, I will be sure to reveal who I am and the master's true plan to you, just to see the look of surprise on your face."

Thus proceed to sprint backwards, dive at the two man attacking Dan, bash their heads together, run like a fucking rabbit out of this shithole, and out of this damn burning castle.

"I'll escort the princess to safety, Athenos."

Elope with the princess.

Escort the princess back to the queen.

Athenos struts out ahead, Rozen offering an arm to the princess. They return to the second floor, realizing the stairwell beneath them is engulfed in flames. "We'll need to cross," Athenos said, pointing to the other guard tower. The party went across, sustaining light burning as a result. They ran down the second sets of chairs and out into the courtyard with any further incident. "Well, what's going on in there?" The Captain asked suddenly. He motioned to the servants and men outside, desperately trying to put out the fire but making no progress.

The cloaked man laughed coldly in Iam's face, his voice echoing off of the walls around them. Iam turned to run, but the exit was blocked off by another of the cloaked figures. He tries to push past them, but they wouldn't budge. After trying to bang their heads together, they pushed him onto the floor. The three other men were still advancing, hands open. They started to hum in an eerie harmony.

Dan downs his alertness tonic, and feels his adrenaline rising. He draws his sword and braces for their attacks. The minimal time he spent learning how to use a short sword are starting to pay off, as he is able to deflect their attacks. One of the attackers manages to cut him slightly on the neck, not enough to cause major damage but enough to cause pain.

Drink paralytic poison that will not only paralyze me, but slow my heartbeat.

Finding no other alternative, Iam drinks a full vial of the paralytic toxin. Whereas a few drops on an arrow is intended to stop pray in their tracks, a full vial is enough to kill a full grown man. He falls to the ground, clasping his heart as it struggles to work. His face contorts as full on asphyxiation overtakes his respiratory system. The shrouded figure watches in amusement, cackling madly as Iam convulses on the floor for close to an hour. Finally the shrouded man stoops down and whispers something to Iam. Iam feels a sudden, freezing cold, and then everything turns to black as Iam dies.

The shrouded character walks past Dan, Lester and Edward, who are trading blows. "M'lord?" Edward asks, turning his attention away from Dan, who takes the opportunity to land his free fist square in the jaw.

"We're leaving. We have done too much already," the shrouded character said. Although it was dark and obscured, it appeared to Dan as if the shrouded character had changed, somehow. He was much bigger, and looked like his legs were broken, forcing him to hunch over.

"What about him?" Lester said, not dropping his guard like Edward had. The shrouded character touched Dan's forehead, knocking him unconscious, the last thing he heard was the echo of the shrouded character's voice..."We'll be back in due time...something else is afoot here." Dan is temporarily unconscious.

------------------------------------------

Athenos, Rozen, and the royal family watch from outside as the flames fade away into nothing. As servants ventured in they found a startling sight - although the burns from their earlier escape were very much on their skin, the castle itself appeared to be completely untouched by the fire. No smoke, no fire damage...the only indication that something had happen were the spilled goblets and plates from dinner goers. Baffled, the confused group of people stare at the castle uneasily.

Go to the top floor of the castle, looking for Dan and Iam. Check each one, lightly touching them and saying things like "Are you alright?" and "Wake up!" while feigning concern. While doing this, discreetly remove their gold and vials and other easily accessible items, placing them into a free satchel, ensuring I am not seen. If no one else is present, be even more thorough, checking them for anything else of value and procuring it.

Edwin, joining the group of confused onlookers, walked aimlessly around the great hall, looking for the rest of his party. He saw some of them right away; Johann, Rozen and Athenos were with the royal family, but the whereabouts of Devlin, Iam and Dan were unknown. Had they even attended the dinner? He realized a large number of guards were running up the towers. He made his way to it, unnoticed by the other guests, but was stopped at the foot of the staircase by a guard. "Guard, only. We've had an incident upstairs," the guard said, blocking his way completely.

Engage the guard in small talk, telling him not to worry about. Walk away, and as soon as I'm out of sight, wear the Ring of Camouflage. Go back to the stairwell, and proceed upstairs to find the source of the commotion. If I find any bodies, unconscious or dead, proceed to remove all gold, vials, and other valuables from them, adding the gold to my gold, the vials to my vials, and any other items in a different satchel.

great I'm unconscious... i hope i wake up soon.

Edit : I'm just assuming here but Az you can probably loot raccoon but by them you'll be too encumbered.

Edwin slips past the guard without further trouble using the ring of camouflage. As he walks up the stairs he becomes increasingly fatigued by the enchantment on the ring, but pushes on nonetheless. He nearly runs into a guard, narrowly avoiding a full on collision, that is running down stairs. As he reaches the second floor landing - exhausted by this point from physical exertion while wearing the ring - he sees two guards with a stretcher in between them carrying Dan to the Barracks. Edwin starts to follow, but here's the Captain of the guard's booming voice behind them. "What do you mean, ripped out?"

"It isn't there," the other guard's voice echoed. They were nearing Edwin. He pushed himself to the side to let them pass him, still undetected. "Someone cut him open and ripped it out!"

"Just like the others..." the Captain murmurs, his voice disappearing into the third floor. Edwin follows behind them to the third floor and slumps into a corner. He looks at the scene. A guard covers up a gruesome cut in Iam's chest with a bed sheet, and an empty vial roles away from them.

"We'll need to discretely remove the corpse, there are still guests downstairs."

"We could take the Castleedge exit -"

"No, this does not call for that. We will leave him here, covered, until the party dies down. I expect it will shortly," The Captain stated. "We have many unanswered questions for tonight -"

"Such as what do they want, why were they here, and who are they?" Estaphon said. He had approached so quietly you and the guards did not hear him. Only one of them made for their weapon, but thought better of it. "Captain, I think it prudent that you dismiss your men. I have asked a servant to bring up a bottle of wine, and the court steward will be with us shortly." The Captain nodded to his men, who were off. They walk a great distance away from the body, and Edwin, residing in some plush chairs by a window that looked out into the late night. The steward, followed by the servant, walked in presently, awkwardly trying to avoid the corpse before them.

"What is this? What is the meaning of this?" Stanley yelled.

"If questions are to be asked it should be of you," The Captain boomed. The Steward withdrew a little at his voice, but remained firm.

"You were entrusted with one task, protect the royal family," the Steward said, pointing an accusing finger.

"You will find that the family is fine, and that the body before you is in no way royalty." The Captain said, tiring of the conversation. The servant served the wine and walked back towards the stairwell. "If we may get on with it then..." The Captain said quietly, but Edwin are too far away to hear much else.

Take the gold, vials, and anything else of value from Iam's corpse. Head to the Barracks afterwards, removing the ring if it becomes safe to do so.

Befriend the princess: conversation, jokes, small talk - however you normalfags do it.

@Kame
where did my tonics go they disappeared from my inventory or did they (they aren't there in the equipment screen)(should be 3 alertness tonic and 4 strength tonic).

@Azrael
I'll give you a strength tonic for one vial of burn on impact poison. meaning you still have 1 of each .

Athenos picked his cloak off of the ground and fashioned it around his armor once he had perceived there was no threat. Athenos turned to Sir Marcus.

"We have much to discuss, you and I, but first..." He eyed over the princess, she had clearly been through quite a bit, but he didn't have time to waste on compassion, "You too."

"Where is the captain of the guard? I must speak with him."