Iam lounges around aimlessly until he believes it to be about 1920. At which time, Iam jumps up upon a nearby table and begins a speech. He starts off with toasting to the king (even in his absence), the queen, and all of the other royals in the room. Iam continues blabbering about being honored to be chosen to have a scroll and nonsense and unimportant stuff, while throwing in a joke every now and then to keep them entertained. Iam is still giving his speech when it is 1930 when....

Scan the dinner room for threats. If identified, keep a close watch.

After synthesizing four of each: an alterness tonic (made of crushed roasted beans steaped in water for several hours) and a strength enhancing tonic of crushed flowers, steeped, a white powder and water, Dan makes an appearance at the dinner. A few nobles bombard him upon entering, interested in his newest and greatest fascinations and creations. He politely answers some of their questions as they lead him towards Sir Marcus and Margarite. "Ah, Sir Lyons, so nice of you to join us," Sir Marcus beams loudly, breaking himself from the dull conversation with the strangely dressed people. Sir Marcus turns to his guests, "this is Dan Lyons, one of the newly appointed guards of the court, as it were," he explains, "Dan, this is -"

"Edward Brodwick, Conciliator of Tryvali," one of the guests interrupts, flashing his royal ring as conformation. "King Archibald, Glorious and Benevolent Ruler of Tryvali has heard of the recent - ah - absence of your king," he delicately flicks a piece of lint from his robe, and starts to escort Dan away from Sir Marcus, who open once again had been mobbed by noblemen. "and we are here to assist in anyway as needed. These are my companions, Lady Darla Westvyld, that represents the college," he added with a disgusted sniff, "and Sir Lester Stone, my close friend and councilor." They were a good distance away from the other dinner guests by this point, and Dan was up against the wall. "Strange, isn't it? You don't seem like much of a fighter. How strange it is that the accreditation was so rushed on the very eve of our arrival, hmm? Some might call it downright suspicious." he took a long look at Dan, measuring him, Dan felt a sudden chill, but couldn't figure out why.

Rozen warmly greeted as many people as he could, finding that for the most part the nobles of the kingdom were a cheery lot. Most of their heads were filled with trivial knowledge. As he progressed through the room he started to notice a trend in their thoughts. When the Tryvali party had been introduced, there had been four of them, and now there were only three. Most of the people in attendance waived it off, after all this appeared to be one of the kingdom's larger functions. Rozen had also noticed the surprising like of appearance by both Stan and Estaphon. He was contimplating this when a surge of mental stimulus surged him, nearly knocking him down. There was a...dark...energy coming from the corner of the hall.

Nearby, watching intently was Athenos, Iam close to him. "I'm going to dance on that table," Iam said to Athenos, who was busy scanning the bustling activity for any sense of danger. He felt uneasy about this place. "Maybe I'll give a speech," I am said, "that's it, a speech. To distract them from the distraction," Iam added with finality. He started to walk off, but Athenos grabbed him roughly by the arm and held him there.

"What distraction?" Athenos growled. Iam surrendered the note, which Athenos read quickly. He was about to clobber Iam across the head when he noticed Rozen beelining to the corner. "Come on," he said, jerking Iam behind him. Rozen stopped a few feet from the Conciliator.

"We've got company," The Lady said. She clasped her hands over her lap, brushing her hand across her wrist in a brief movement only Athenos caught. The conciliator and the other man turned suddenly, and the dark energy began to banish. Rozen began bombarding them with questions and salutations, asking about the whether, their trip, their country...the babble was none stop. Dan looked as if he had seen a ghost, but quickly came to. Rozen talked to the group of Tryvalians before they hastily made their exit back towards Sir Marcus. Devlin joins them.

"What happened here?" Devlin asks.

"I don't know, but I suddenly feel rather cold," Dan said sheepishly. Rozen stared off after the Tryvalians.

"There are four of them, but the forth one isn't here, he's upstairs, in the royal quarters," Rozen said shortly. He couldn't get his head around the strange power he felt or why he felt it. "As for Estaphon and Stanley...no one knows where they are. I would have to go talk to Edward to figure it out."

"We're running out of time," Athenos pointed out gruffly, showing them the crumpled piece of paper.

"Well where's the distraction?" Devlin asks, looking through the note again, "It is past time."

"We may have avoided it just now," Iam says with a shrug.

There is a sudden crashing from the kitchen, followed by screams of horror. "Fire! Fire!" One of them screams as he comes out, wafting smoke from his face. The party bursts into action as attendants flee the great hall.

"There's your distraction."

Find Sir Marcus and defend him from any threats. Escort him to safety, if possible.

Haha Kame so perfect.

"Don't worry guys, I know their entire plan."

Recall where the secret entrance to the castle is, because in my youth I would always sneak around with my friends (imaginary) and pet frog (now lost) into the castle through secret exits. Quickly rush there, in expectations to catch the assassin before he can make a clean escape.

Make sure the frog is secure in the bowl and lid, and that there is water in it. If there is no water in it, retrieve some from the dining table (there has to be a cup of water somewhere). Idly read its mind. ((Meta-intention: discover any information that the omniscient soothsayer may know about the issue.))

Escort Margarite, following Athenos.

Keep presence of mind - scan the minds of any passerby to determine any malicious intents.

Look for any water to put out the fire (just assuming here even though someone clearly said fire but it could be a trick so umm yea)then go the above floor and make sure it doesn't spread.

Iam took off out of the castle and around the building before anyone could stop him. He found his 'old' secret entrance into the castle, a sewer outlet. He no longer fit inside.

Athenos and Rozen (after storing Johann safely in his dish of water) race to the side of Sir Marcus and Queen Margarite. They escort them outside, Rozen busy trying to interpret some sort of misconduct while Athenos pushed - with great pleasure - some nobles out of his way. When they were outside, they looked at the castle, blazing flames coming out of the ground floor and the level right above it. Dan pushes his way out, coughing from the smoke. "It's spread too fast," Dan said, panting, "but look, it hasn't reached the top floor." Rozen frowned. He couldn't sense the Tryvali anywhere, and he highly doubted they would have intentionally put their man on the top floor in harms way.

"Go get some water," Athenos boomed at a crowded group of shocked servants, "you have a fire to put out, don't you?" As they ran past, Rozen caught a couple of flour covered servants, halting them from going to get water.

"Why don't you tell me what happened," he asked kindly, keeping alert for any other signs of trouble. The servant could hardly speak, and when he did it was jumbled babble - mostly out of shock. Rozen tried to calm him down, but got the information he needed from one of their minds. It wasn't someone that started the fire but something. And that thing could not be quantified as much more than a stray spark that found it's way across the kitchen. A firework, one mind suggested, or gunpowder. But Rozen sensed that they were not convinced on this conclusion...

A captain of the guard came up, followed by six other armed men, two of which were holding small children asleep in their arms - a boy and a girl. Queen Margarite stumbled forward and grabbed them both, sighing in relief. "You are relieved," the captain said to Athenos and Rozen, "we can protect them from here."

In the distance the party sees Lady Westvyld, searching among the guests frantically.

"Send some of your men to tend to the Lady," Sir Marcus said, panting. The captain nodded to two men and they ran off. The party can hear Lady Westvyld complain that her companions were no where to be found, and must have been caught inside.

-Look for Iam and tell him what the poisons do now

Dan runs off to find Iam on another side of the castle, trying to scale the wall. He explains the different poisons in Iam's possession - two vials of a paralyzing toxin, two vials of a toxin that burns on impact, and a single vial of a poison that causes a slow death.

Return to castle. EDIT: Through main entrance. Go to top floor. Which is eerily not on fire.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 1 2012, 8:32 pm by Raccoon.

Iam runs through the flames, Dan close behind him rattling off the different uses of the poisons. The two stumble through the flames, coughing at the smoke that bellowed up. As they reached the third floor of the west tower, the smoke and flames were completely gone. "That's impossible, it must be here. Look again," an unfamiliar cold and nasally voice said.

"M'lord, we've searched the room dozens of times it isn't here," another voice said, irritated. This one you recognize as Edward.

"Well search again! We are not leaving until we find it. We have never been lied to before, why would we be now?" he asked with finality. "And be quick with it, will you? Fabricating a fire like this is taking up all of my mental ability at the moment."

You haven't been spotted yet, but you will be soon.

Johan: *annoyed at the constant presence of his captor's mind scanning, thinks about how annoying herds of cows can be to navigate on his way to his favorite pond*

Athenos observed the chaos around him. He didn't like it, this was far too disorganized. He focused for a moment and his armor shimmered in around him. He had enough of this.

"No one leaves the castle grounds," Athenos commanded to the captain of the guard. He looked around briefly, "The princess; where is the princess?"

Queen Margarite looked up from the two children she already had, startled. "Aleiya," she whispered to the captain of the guard, "Where's Aleiya? Where's my daughter?"

"We..we had assumed she was at the dinner, we only saw the two children in their quarters, Princess Aleiya was gone," the captain stuttered, "she could be anywhere..."

Step out of the shadows into sight and say, "What you are looking for has long been removed from the castle. But you need not worry, I am perfectly capable of obtaining it, and both of us work for the same person. Nothing is wrong, this is all part of the plan, and you all played perfectly, you should be rewarded greatly. Now, please, stop with this fire, we have more business to do. Please follow me downstairs, someone is waiting for you and I need to keep my cover as a soldier a little bit longer." Smile convincingly as I go through this bluff with perfect ease as if I had practiced for weeks for just this moment.

It all came to him in a sudden epiphany. These were the same people. They needed something from the king, something that he wasn't giving them. So they were getting leverage, and while the king may not respond well to torture, he might be broken by the sight of his daughter suffering the same fate. He grit his teeth.

Athenos threw off his cloak and bolted back into the castle.

Iam steps forward, startling Lester and Edward, but the third figure, shrouded from head to toe in an elaborate robe, remained absolutely motionless. To his surprise, it was not the person he met in the tavern earlier that day, or the person who wrote the note. "What you are looking for has long been removed from the castle. But you need not worry, I am perfectly capable of obtaining it, and both of us work for the same person. Nothing is wrong, this is all part of the plan, and you all played perfectly, you should be rewarded greatly. Now, please, stop with this fire, we have more business to do. Please follow me downstairs, someone is waiting for you and I need to keep my cover as a soldier a little bit longer," Iam said, convincingly. Edward and Lester started forward, swords drawn, but the third figure stopped them.

"Removed from the castle? I can fathom it," he said, drawing towards Iam carefully. "You working for us? Well, I had no idea the master had gotten so careless in his old age," he waived it off. Iam seethed with rage. "If it is true you work for the same ends, for the same person, prove it. As you can see, my companions are rather...itchy...so I'd make it fast."

Distracted like this, a slender and stealthy figure silently sneaks to the door and down into a guard tower, running at full force when she suddenly ran straight into Athenos. She bolted back against the wall, fists clenched tightly, teeth bared. She is temporarily terrified of Athenos' towering figure, and so cannot move. She is approximately seventeen, quick and is lightly dressed in a straight black dress and completely unarmed. There doesn't appear to be anything of value on her, but Athenos gets the distinct impression that she is somehow...disturbed.

Chuckle. "Please hold your tongue when from insulting our master. Our master is anything but careless, and his old age, if that is what you believe to be old, has only positive consequences. But yes, it would be logical for you to question who I am. Unfortunately, I can not tell you my true identity at this moment in time, for matters I am sure we are both completely aware of. Secrecy is key in our line or work, and having the wrong information fall into the wrong hands *nod towards the two with their swords drawn* could be quite terrible. However, I believe this is proof enough for you *hand the mysterious man the note that I picked up back in the tavern.* Several of these plans were distributed by our master, and loss of these plans would be punished by pain of death, so please, do not accuse me of stealing this. Now if this is still not proof enough, then please follow me. After we deal with a few things downstairs, I can personally take you to exactly what you are looking for, or even better, we can return to our master, even though we both know he wouldn't be very pleased at the moment after what happened."