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Chapter Text

A faint sigh escaped Elsys' lips as she listened to Sirron and Frederick bicker with each other about an incident involving a wolf and a poorly timed dagger throw.

"Would you two kindly shut the ever loving fuck up?" A voice rumbled from a few steps behind the two. The voice belonged to Ghadath who looked as though he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in quite some time. The duo fell silent and looked at each other for a moment before a relived sigh escaped Void and Ghadath simultaneously.

"Thanks Ghadath, it was getting difficult to concentrate with those two bitching at each other." Void hummed softly before placing her hands behind her back. A soft smile crossed her lips and quickly skipped her way towards Elsys. "So... these people we're going to be meeting up with, how do you know them again, Elsy?"

A soft chuckle escaped Elsys' lips as she listened to the question. "I've had a several run-ins with them in the past. Before you ask it was purely in a professional manner, nothing more than that. They are quite efficient when it comes to jobs of this sort, trust me." She smiled slightly before stopping just outside of the tavern that the meeting had been set to take place in. "Now I need everyone to be on their best behavior. I would hate to have to look elsewhere for assistance just because somebody decided to make things difficult."

Sirron hesitantly nodded and glanced over towards his sister, Ghadath smiled and slid his staff onto his back, Void took a deep breath and let it out before nodding slightly and sending a slightly mischievous looking grin towards Frederick who looked as though he would rather be doing anything else at the current moment. "I'll stay outside and wait till you four are done with business." He said in a barely audible whisper before motioning for the others to go ahead inside.

"Outta curiosity what are the names of the fellows we're supposed to be meetin' anyway? I don't recall you mentioning any names before we headed out here to meet 'em." Sirron asked once Frederick had walked away from the group. The question caused Elsys to stiffen up a little but after a moment she recovered and turned her gaze towards him.

"I suppose I was so determined to get help that it slipped my mind that none of you have had the pleasure of meeting them... or at least I don't think any of you have. Their names are Kerrion and Goran." She explained with a soft hint of a smile.

"Kerrion and Goran... huh? Does this Goran fellow have a last name by any chance or did you never think to ask them?" Ghadath questioned, his eyes lighting up for a moment almost as if he was excited for some reason. There was a split second of silence before Elsys gave a slight nod.

"They did give their last names to me but they had skipped my mind. Stonefell is Kerrion's last name and Vedmeyer or maybe Vedmire is Goran's." As soon as Ghadath heard the last names his excitement seemed to fade a little. Then he glanced down at the ground for a moment before nodding slightly.

"Vedmire...? I doubt it's the same Vedmire but if it is I'll just have to act accordingly." There was a momentary pause as he thought about what she had said prior to his original question. He took a breath and let it out then he turned to see where Frederick had gone. "Maybe it would be best if I keep my distance from him for now... if you need me I'll be just getting a few things at the shop over there. I may have ran out of a few spell components during our last battle on the way here and I would hate to be caught unprepared again."

As Ghadath took off towards a nearby shop, Elsys glanced back towards Sirron and Void before pushing the door to the tavern open and holding it so the remaining duo could enter ahead of her. With a small hum Void entered the tavern and looked around to see if she could spot the pair they were supposed to be meeting, Sirron on the other hand seemed a little hesitant to enter at first but when he noticed Elsys starting to get impatient he slowly entered and made his way over to the counter trying to seem as casual as a nervous Tiefling could. Elsys stepped in a moment later, shutting the door behind her with a faint hint of a smile on her face.

"It's been quite some time since I've last seen you around here ma'am, would you like your usual or are you here strictly on business?" The bartender, a human male in early thirties, said in a friendly manner. She turned towards him for a second before holding three fingers up.

"Yes, I'll have my usual and get those two over there another of whatever it is there drinking." She hummed, motioning towards a table near the staircase leading up to the guest rooms. At the table in question sat a Goliath and what looked to be a Duergar. "Technically this is business but after the trip here I could use a good drink."

"Alright, that'll be two silver pieces and one gold piece. I'll bring the drinks over as soon as possible madam. I'm sorry to hear about the rough trip but hopefully things will turn around for the better." The bartender replied, as he got to work pouring the first of the three drinks. While he was doing that Elsys made her way to the table, motioning for Sirron and Void to follow her as she did. Void was quick to follow after her, almost like a duckling chasing after someone that it thought was it's mother, while Sirron was a little more hesitant to follow after her. When he noticed the occupants of the table they were headed to his tail tightened around his leg as he swore to himself under his breath before taking a few cautious steps in the same direction the others were headed.

"These are the guys that you were talking about?" Void whispered as her tail started to twitch ever so slightly. "How does that Goliath have... would you call those sideburns or something along those lines?" Elsys had to fight the urge to chuckle at the last question that had been posed even though she had also had a similar question when she first noticed it.

"Yes, this is Kerrion and Goran. Are they not how you expected them to look? Sure it's quite a surprise to find out that Kerrion isn't exactly human but he's probably one of the better mercenaries that I've had dealings with." She responded in an equally low whisper before shrugging slightly. "Honestly I've never asked before. It might be due to a curse or maybe he got his hands on a magic item since last we had talked. It does make him look a little more distinguished although he's not really my type, if you catch my meaning." Void's tail stopped twitching as she found herself fighting back a chuckle as well.

"If that's a curse then maybe it isn't all that bad of one. Unless it's not just facial hair that grew because of it. Not your type...? So what is your type if you don't mind me asking?" Void questioned, loud enough that the duo at the table could hear her. Elsys gave her a death glare as she noticed the pair go quiet almost immediately after the question had been asked. Just as she was about to say something Kerrion turned in his seat to see what the commotion behind him was about and a faint swear escaped her lips. "... Oh? So that's your type then? Don't worry, I won't tell the others~"

"If it wasn't for what I said outside... I'd fuckin' kill ya right now." She mumbled before flashing Kerrion a small smile and nodding towards Goran, who had just finished his drink. "Sorry for the delay gentlemen, we ran into a few obstacles along the way here and two of our little group decided to split off as soon as we arrived in town. To make it up to you I ordered you a round of drinks... I hope that's alright." A low, rumbling laugh escaped the Goliath as he glanced down at the pair for a moment. Elsys raised a brow slightly and Void ducked behind her, not sure of what to do or say at that moment.

"It wouldn't be one of our meetings without you running a little late, now would it? Sometimes I wonder if you just pick bullshite times just to fuck with us, although I cannot deny that the roads and paths around here have become more dangerous as of late." He shifted his gaze towards the other Tiefling that was now moving closer to the table as well. When Sirron noticed the Goliath's gaze fall on him, he stiffened up for a moment before hesitantly waving at him. "So these are the two siblings you mentioned in your letter, correct?" He questioned, motioning towards the two Tieflings that were now behind her.

"That they are, Sirron and Void. They were the ones that took the brunt of the abuse from those bastards. The other two decided to stay outside, Frederick because he didn't feel like talking about what had happened and Ghadath ... well because he thought that you might have been someone that had a hand in the death of his father." Elsys explained, sighing slightly as she did so. She quickly pulled a chair from an empty table and brought it over to the table before sitting down.

"If I had a gold piece for everytime someone thought I'd been behind the death of there loved one I'd have two gold pieces. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's only happened twice." Kerrion said in a joking fashion before leaning back in his seat. His eyes seemed to be transfixed on something that was hanging around the High Elf's neck for just a moment, a slightly disappointed look crossing his face. "But that's not important right now. You do realize that this 'little' job you mentioned in the message you sent us sounds more like a suicide mission than an easy job. The targets will undoubtedly be heavily guarded and since Jazna and Tylieri decided to go along with that strange couple that had attempted to hire us awhile back, we'd surely be outnumbered." As he spoke he turned his attention towards the two Tieflings that were with the Elf.

"That's where we come in, me and my brother here managed to steal a invitation before we ran away. So... with a little clever planning and you guys' skills we might have a chance." Void replied after a couple seconds, stepping out from behind Elsys even though she was still a little nervous. "Madam Elsys will be posing as a noblewoman that the pair are close with and she'll be 'returning' myself, my brother and Frederick to them and you, handsome over there and Ghadath could act as her guards..." she trailed off slightly and glanced down at the floor as her tail began to twitch again. There was a momentary silence as Kerrion and Goran glanced between each other before a faint smirk crossed Kerrion's face.

"Quite the clever lass you've got there Elsy. She's already working on a plan even though we've yet to agree to the job. Sorta makes me want to agree now even though the odds are stacked against us." He held back a chuckle as he shifted in his seat before turning to the Elf. "Okay we'll do it but on one condition." As he said that he subtlety motioned towards the object around her neck.

"What's the condition?" Sirron asked curiously before noticing that the man was motioning towards something. "... I'm guessing it doesn't involve a higher amount of gold then?"

"Although a higher amount of gold would be a good incitive it's not exactly what I was thinking of. I was thinking more along the lines of the ring currently hanging around 'our Madam's' neck. It's worth at least twice the amount that you're offering to pay us." Stonefell moved his hand towards it but paused when Elsys quickly tucked the necklace with the ring on it into her shirt. "Oh? Does it still mean that much to you ?"

"Yes, it does still mean 'that much' to me. I just don't want to lose it or have it get stolen. I still remember the day it was given to me, I still remember how nervous you were when I didn't answer you right away." She hummed softly before taking his hand as a slightly mischievous smile began to cross her lips. "Maybe one day you'll see me wear it properly but until then... you'll just have to be patient. Although if we tweaked the plan a bit then it could work in our favor."

"Uh... What's going on?" Sirron and Void asked in unison glancing between their friend and the Duergar with confused expressions on their faces. Vedmire shrugged slightly just as the bartender brought over the drinks Elsys had ordered.

"Fine... it might not put the gold back in my pocket but at least I know the reason why you don't wear it now. Wait in what way are you planning to tweak the plan?" He questioned with a raised brow. She shook her head slightly and chuckled softly.

"Don't worry about it Kerrion. I'm sure that when the time comes, it'll work out perfectly."

Chapter Text

Frederick took a breath as he pushed the door of the tavern open, after about an hour of waiting for the others outside he'd started to get worried. When he saw the High Elf, the two Tieflings, the Goliath and what looked to be a Duergar sitting at a table in the far corner he raised a brow slightly before walking over to the group. 'Oh great they're drinking... Eh. Perhaps they decided to help us after all.' He thought as he got closer to the table. He stopped when he heard Void laughing hysterically and a curious expression crossed his face. '... What in the hell is so funny?'

"Holy shit, I can't believe I was right about your type Elsy... I'd only been joking. I always thought you were someone who would be into taller men." Void nearly fell out of her seat as she leaned back in her seat a little to far back. Frederick noticed this and rushed over towards her, attempting to steady the chair. "Frederick, you decided to finally join us...? Pull up a seat, grab a drink and meet our new associates."

"I'll pass on the drink but I guess it couldn't hurt to have a seat and rest my fuckin' legs finally. I've been standing outside for an hour and my legs are fuckin' killing me." There was a hint of annoyance in his voice as he pulled one of the few empty chairs remaining over towards the table before sitting down. He glanced at the man that looked like a Duergar for a moment before folding his hands together and placing them in his lap. "So you'll be accompanying us to that shitty wedding and helping us take down those disgusting bastards? Well as long as you don't fuck it up then everything will be just fine."

Stonefell who had been distracted when the young man had first joined the table, stiffened up a little when he had heard him mention not fucking up. He thought back the overwhelming urge to tell him to fuck off and shifted slightly in his seat before snorting slightly. "Kid sure has a mouth on him, doesn't he. Well let me be the one to assure you that the only thing getting 'fucked up' as you put it, will be the targets." He finally replied before finishing up his drink. "And perhaps with a little luck the beautiful angel of a woman sitting beside me as well, although in rather different manner, if you catch my meaning."

The table fell quite for what felt like an eternity before someone finally cleared their throat. "And perhaps you'll keep such dirty thoughts to yourself until after we succeed in killing those bastards? It's just a suggestion, Kerrion." The Goliath stated, trying to break the awkward silence without starting a scene. With a slight roll of his eyes and a murmured 'fine' Stonefell leaned back in his seat while Vedmire stood up and from his seat and stretched slightly. "It's been nice catching up with you again. I'm going to step out for a bit, maybe see if I can clear the air with this Ghadath fellow before we head out tomorrow. Don't want to have bad blood with someone I don't even know."

Elsys nodded her head slightly before turning to face Frederick with a curious expression on her face. "Speaking of Ghadath, did you happen to see him before you decided to finally join us in here? I know he said he was just going to restock some items he needed but I feel as though he should have been here by now." There was a pleasant little hum in her voice that almost none of the people at the table had heard before.

"Last I saw him, he was heading towards the other side of town. Maybe he decided to check to see if there was an inn or another tavern around?" He replied with a small shrug. This earned an annoyed groan from the Elf before she took another sip from her drink.

"The only other tavern in town is kind of a shit hole and this place is the closest thing to an inn this place has." She stated with a rather mild look of annoyance on her face. "Frederick... perhaps you should go along with Goran just in case things get a little too heated. You may be good at picking fights but you're also good at defusing things before they escalate to the point where a fight would occur." As she spoke the young man hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly and raising from his seat.

"You honestly think I'll be much help if they do end up getting into it? I mean that's probably the best case scenario but... I'm probably going to get my ass handed to me." He said with a small shrug of his shoulders before following Vedmire towards the door. He gave a glance back towards the others for a moment before leaving with the Goliath.

"Ten gold says Frederick gets killed." Void smirked slightly and tossed the remaining content of her coin purse on the table once the pair had left. The others at the table looked at her in surprise before Sirron pulled his own coin purse out and shrugged slightly. "I mean it's likely to happen so I'm in as well sis." Elsys let out a soft yet slightly annoyed hum before pulling her pouch out. "How's this two platinum says that nothing happens and you two are just being assholes." With that she tossed her wager on the table, gaining a shocked expression from everyone that was still at the table. "Well now, you really must have some semblance of confidence in that kid if you're willing to risk not one but two platinum on him. Just for shits... I'll wager three gold that he survives." Kerrion added his gold to the pile.

"Shit... I didn't think you'd all actually do it. If nothing happens then I guess Elsy and Kerri can split the winnings... since technically he'd survive." Void let out a nervous chuckle as her tail twitched a little before slowly wrapping around the chair she was sitting on. Stonefell made a face upon hearing the nickname she had given him but after a second he shrugged slightly.

"I'm sure Ghadath would be willing to let you borrow some gold if you need to pick up a few things before we leave in the morning." Sirron fought back a chuckle as a thought popped into his mind. He gently stroked the stubble on his chin and glanced between Elsys and Kerrion for a moment before turning his attention towards his sister. "Look on the bright side sis, if 'mother' and 'father' win the bet they can use it to have a nice night together and perhaps improve their 'married couple' act so they can actually pull off their part of the plan." He said in a joking manner before leaning back in his seat slightly.

She dug her nails into her palms and fought back the urge to strike the young Tiefling. "Keep runnin' your mouth Sirron, I fuckin' dare you." She hissed angrily before slowly getting to her feet. Before she could move away from the table she felt a hand make contact with her's and she froze slightly. After a couple seconds she glanced down and let out a soft and somewhat surprised hum as she saw Kerrion looking up at her with a slightly worried look on his face. She took a deep breath before letting it out but didn't sit back down, Kerrion's expression didn't change as she carefully freed her hand from his. "I'm sorry about that. I... I think I'm going to get a room and go lay down for a little bit. If the others come back then send Void up to get me, my love." She said with a soft sigh.

"Why not just use our room? I'm almost certain that Goran won't mind." He reached into his pocket and rummaged around in it before pulling out a key and placing it into her now free hand. "It's the second room on the right. I'll make sure to send her up to retrieve you when the others return dearest."

~In Town~

Ghadath glanced down at the ground for a moment as he tried to recall if there was anything else that he needed to pick up before calling it a night and taking a rest before the group and the two mercenaries Elsys had hired left to 'attend' the wedding. As he began to rummage around in his pack he couldn't help but wonder if the others were doing alright without him. Every so often similar thoughts had found themselves slithering into his mind like a serpent, but this was the first time he'd actually entertained the thoughts. "Maybe it would be best if I did leave at least until this job is finished... I'm just a liability to them. At least the others have a good reason to want to take on this... impossible task."

He fell silent after a moment when he heard footsteps approaching him from behind, he quickly turned around and a look of confusion crossed his face as he saw Frederick and a large stranger. As the pair got closer Ghadath felt his heart begin to race as he slowly began to reach for his staff. "Ghadath... you're still on about that? Look you might not have the most put together reason for helping us but you're our friend and we've been through hell and back for each other." Frederick said before carefully stepping in front of Vedmire, holding his hands up slightly in an attempt to show that they meant the warlock no harm. "... Did you happen to get everything that you needed?"

Ghadath nodded slightly, trying not to take his eyes off the stranger with him. Although he initially had reached for his staff his hand slowly began to fall as he hesitantly took a few steps closer to the pair. Vedmire raised a brow slightly as he watched the younger Goliath make his cautious approach. "So this is the one Elsys was talking about?" He asked Frederick, who nodded slightly in response. "Hmmm."

As the two Goliaths seemed to be examining each other the human with them let out a nervous chuckle and glanced between the two for a moment. "Guys... I don't know if you actually have history with each other or not but it's starting to get late. I don't exactly know when Lady Winterdream wants us to head out tomorrow morning but it might be a good idea if we leave the past in the past and try to get along until we finish the job and then we can more or less go our separate ways." He ran a hand through his hair and shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he heard a faint snort from his friend.

"He may not be the one who stole from the shop and killed my father but I'm still unsure how to feel about him." He murmured before taking a few cautious steps closer. "If we must stay at that tavern for the night I might just sleep out in the stable so you won't have to worry about being woken up by my 'obnoxious snoring' again." He rolled his eyes slightly before glancing at the sword that Vedmire had with a raised brow. "That's a nice blade you got there, sir. Hopefully you'll have no trouble using it when the time comes. You could probably take out a couple guards without breaking a sweat with that damn thing." It was hard to tell if he was being genuine or if he was being sarcastic but the faint hint of a smile made Frederick believe it was the first option.

Goran glanced towards the sword on his back and nodded slightly after hearing the younger Goliath's compliment. "It was my father's, it is the only thing I have to remember him by. He was killed when I was a child so I don't remember much about him." He went quite for a moment before turning to lead the pair back to the tavern. "It's saved my ass plenty of times in the past. I doubt a few guards would be a challenge compared to some of the shite we've faced."

Chapter Text

~In Town~

As Ghadath, Vedmire and Frederick began to make their way back to the tavern Frederick and Ghadath come to a stop as a wolf's howl could be heard down one of the alleyways nearby. It seemed almost impossible that the guards would let wolves this far into town but as the howls grew closer Ghadath pulled out his staff, Vedmire readied his sword and Frederick pulled out his daggers and took a deep breath before looking at the others. "We've got this." He told himself before spinning one of his daggers in his hand.

Goran glanced down at him for a second with a raised brow before turning his attention forward as he heard a low growl coming from in front of him. He glared down at the source of the growling and smirked slightly before swinging his blade with ease. As it sliced through the wolf in front of him, Frederick swore underneath his breath in amazement and Ghadath looked impressed as they watched the wolf split apart and the parts slide to the ground, spraying the three with blood. Frederick fought back the urge to vomit as the blood splattered onto his face. Ghadath rolled his eyes slightly before wiping the blood off of his face.

"Nice, real nice." He murmured before casting prestidigitation on himself to clean the blood off his cloak. Then he quickly turned, hearing a low growl coming from his right. He took a deep breath and casts Hunger of Hadar just as the wolf was beginning to back away when it saw it's companion's two halves laying on the ground in front of the other Goliath. As the black sphere surrounded the wolf another one yelped as it was also caught up in the sphere. "At least I can make a clean kill. Although I must say that your form is quite impressive, at least you're not stumbling over your own feet or tossing your weapon at something only for it to get caught in a tree or in a river or in a pool of fuckin' Lava..."

Goran fought the urge to laugh as he started to move forwards towards the direction of the tavern again, making sure to keep an eye out for any more wolves. Frederick stayed back with Ghadath and casually punch his arm with a playful smile before motioning towards Vedmire with a 'lets just go before more wolves show up' kind of a look. The Goliath shrugged slightly before turning away as his spell ended and the two wolves fell to the ground, dead as a couple of doorknobs. "You find me annoying and a bother... don't you Ghadath?" He questioned as they began to follow Vedmire back. The Warlock shook his head slightly and ruffled the Rogue's hair slightly. "No, I don't think that at all. Sure you could use a little training and maybe some glasses but that doesn't make you any less useful as anyone of our friends."

~At the Inn~

Sirron pulled his viol out and had begun playing a rather melancholy melody as his sister had decided to start sharing stories of their recent adventures with their newest allie. "And it turned out that the giant snake was in fact the Druid that we had been tasked to find. Frederick felt horrible when he realized that and ever since then he's been pretty off his game. Sure he can still pick locks and shit like that but he's lost his confidence with a weapon... and it's a damn shame to. He was quite an impressive fighter up until that happened." She explained, sipping her drink as she glanced towards the door with a small frown. Kerrion shifted in his seat, trying to get comfortable even though there was a small part of him that wanted to go upstairs and check up on Elsys. The last time he'd see her in that state something terrible happened the next day and given what they had been tasked to do the next day he was starting to get a bad feeling that something horrible was going to happen.

"Is that so?" He asked, even though he hadn't really been paying attention to what she had been saying at that point. His fingers gently tapped against the table and glanced at the staircase with a similar worried expression that he had earlier. "Perhaps he needs to be reminded of how impressive of a fight he had been and then try doing something that will bring back memories of when he didn't worry about messing up again?" He added after having his attention brought back to the conversation at hand as he felt something hit him from the other side of the table, where the Tiefling was sitting.

Void raised a brow slightly as she heard his questions and shook her head ever so slightly. "We've tried that before but perhaps killing the bastards that fucked us over will... make him feel better about his skills." She turned her gaze towards where he had been looking at and gave him a small nod almost as if to say that she was also worried about the older woman. Even though she didn't really understand what was going on with her she had a feeling that it wasn't anything good. "I know you haven't been listening to the story but... can you tell me what's going on? She's never really acted like that before and not going to lie, I'm really fucking worried about her."

Stonefell took a breath as he listened to the Tiefling and nodded slightly before straightening up a little in his seat. "I had been listening but I had started to drift off near the end there a little bit." A very faint trace of a smile crossed his lips before it faded almost as immediately as it had appeared. "I'm not entirely sure what is going on myself, I've only seen her do that once before and it was before something truly awful happened. I don't know if it's like some sort of foresight or something like that but the last time it happened..."

~Up in the room~

Elsys quietly stared up at the ceiling of the room from the bed she had more or less collapsed on once entering the room. With the sleeve of her left arm she wiped away the tears that had been forming and with her right hand she gently traced across a nasty scar that only a few other people knew about. 'Why now...?' She thought to herself as she recalled the incident that had left her with the scar and had taken away the one of the few semblances of happiness that she had had at the time. After a couple minutes she sat up on the bed and took a breath before rummaging through Kerrion's things.

"Where is it?" She asked under her breath as she continued digging around, stopping once she found what she was looking for. As she pulled the spare uniform jacket on over her white blouse a soft and rather content hum escaped her lips before she sat down on the bed and returned to staring at the ceiling. It may have been a little smaller than she remembered but it still fit rather nicely, she had to wonder if it fit him just as well or if it had become a little too small for him as well.

The sound of the melancholy melody could be heard coming from downstairs, but Elsys didn't seem to care at that moment. After a couple seconds she slowly shut her eyes and mumbled something under her breath before drifting off into a trance.

~Back Downstairs~

Sirron nearly stopped playing as he heard what Stonefell had told his sister and he felt his heart sink a little more than it already had. "I'm sorry for your loss. I... I didn't know that..." He trailed off slightly and glanced down at his viol with an apologetic expression. The song he was playing slowly started to become more sorrowful as he thought about what had been said. Void turned in her seat, not wanting the others to see her cry as she felt tears beginning to prick the corners of her eyes. She pulled a handkerchief out of her vest pocket and wiped her eyes before slowly turning back towards the others after a little while. "That... that's horrible. I can understand why she never told any of us about it." Her voice was cracking a little as she fought back more tears. Sirron stops playing his viol and gently placed his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner. "Sis..."

Kerrion slowly started to stand up from his seat but stopped when he noticed the Tiefling starting to cry. He looked down at the table for a moment before taking a breath and placing a hand on her other shoulder before fishing around in his pocket for something. After a moment he pulled out the letter that had brought the group together and he placed it in front of her. "It was. She doesn't really like to talk about it and I can't blame her. I'd normally avoid talking about it as well..." he trailed off slightly and motioned towards the letter for a moment before removing his hand from her shoulder.

Void slowly picked up the letter after putting her handkerchief away. As she began to read the letter she shifted slightly in her seat and glanced up towards the staircase with a surprised expression on her face. "She... really sees me as a daughter?" Her words were still a little shaky. Stonefell nodded slightly and began to make his way towards the stairs.

"I've always sort of seen the rest of the group as a family, so it's nice to see that at least one other member sees it in a similar light." Sirron said after a moment, earning a soft chuckle from the older man. His sister glanced up towards him for a second before a faint hint of a smile started to grace her tear stained face. As the pair started to joke with each other, Kerrion snuck upstairs and made his way to the room but stopped just outside the door. He took a breath and moved to the side and leaned up against the wall after a couple seconds.

~In Town~

Goran growled angrily as his sword just barely missed the wolf that had tried to attack him and just as he was about to swing again, a dagger came flying from behind him and imbedded itself into the wolf's side. After the dagger imbedded itself in the target Vedmire swung the sword again. As the wolf's head hit the ground Frederick murmured under his breath before rushing over to the body to retrieve the dagger he'd thrown. They were almost back to the tavern now but it seemed like more wolves kept showing up.

Ghadath glanced around cautiously before making a dash for the door of the tavern followed close behind by Frederick who just wanted to get inside and clean the blood off his clothes and face. He places his staff back onto his back and takes a breath once he gets to the door. As he pushes the door open and goes inside Frederick stays just outside of the door, not wanting to leave Vedmire alone if more wolves decided to show up and attack.

After a few minutes he returned his sword to his back and turned towards Frederick with a raised brow. "Did your friend decide to make a run for it?" He questioned, not having seen him go into the inn. The human shook his head slightly before motioning towards the door of the inn. Goran glanced at the door for a moment before stepping towards it and motioning for the young man to enter ahead of him. As the pair entered the tavern a curious expression crossed Sirron's face before quickly nudging his sister slightly.

~Upstairs in the tavern~

Void glanced up from the letter before dropping it onto the table. She quickly stands up from her seat and begins to make her way towards the staircase before rushing up the stairs. She looked a little surprised when she saw Kerrion leaning against the wall near the door but shrugged it off before hesitantly knocking on the door. When there was no response she swore underneath her breath before reaching for the doorknob and turning it, slowly opening the door.

As she entered the room to inform Elsys of the return of Frederick, Vedmire and Ghadath but when she noticed that she was currently in her trance she quickly turned around and stepped out of the room with a soft sigh. "Of course she'd decide to do it now... why couldn't she have waited until we got our own room?" She thought aloud earning a confused look from Kerrion. She glanced down at him before taking a quick breath. "Goran and the two idiots are back and in one piece at that. It looks like you two won, but she's currently trancing out in there... so don't get any ideas."

He pretended to be mildly offended by her last comment before pushing past her and glancing into the room. "If you must know, I came up here to check on her. I'm not planning anything devious." He assured her before taking a couple steps into the room. "You didn't tell me that she choose to do so on my bed of all places." He said as soon as he spotted her sitting in the middle of his bed. He undid the top button of his uniform before removing it and placing it on the chair in the corner of the room. Then he walked over to the door, shut it and walked over towards the bed Vedmire had been using and crawled into it. He made a face as he heard the Tiefling cursing him out before her voice started to fade almost as if she had headed down the hallway to one of the other rooms.

~Back downstairs~

Ghadath walked up to the counter of the bar and gave the bartender his friendliest smile before reaching for his coin pouch slowly. "Good evening sir. I would like to inquire if there are any rooms free that me and my compatriots could use for the evening." The bartender paused for a moment before pulling out a singular key. He placed it on the counter before sliding it over to him with a small smile. "... How much do I owe you, good sir?"

"Two silver pieces. The room has four beds so you should have no problem fitting everyone in there." The bartender replied with a small hint of a smile. Ghadath gave him a confused look before looking around for a moment. "But we have five people in our group..." he trailed off slightly as he placed the two silver on the counter and grabbed the key. "That may be the case but Lady Winterdream has already arranged to use the private room. So you and your other friends can share that room."

Ghadath glanced around before realizing that Void was nowhere to be seen and cursed under his breath slightly before motioning at Frederick and Sirron. The duo nodded ever so slightly before Sirron also motioned at Vedmire with a small smirk. Ghadath looked shocked for a couple seconds but shook it off and began to head towards the stairs in a slightly defeated manner, followed by the tired Rogue, the drunken Bard and the intimidating force that was the other Goliath.

Chapter Text

~In the private room~

Void stretched slightly and hopped out of bed with a soft sigh. Although she was looking forward to finally getting revenge on the people that had made her and her brother's life a living hell but there was a small part of her that was worried that the plan might backfire after what had happened the previous night. She ran a hand through her hair and took a breath before grabbing her back from beside the bed and opening it up.

As she began to search through the odds and ends she'd been collecting since the day Elsys had rescued her, she pulled out a small silver brush and began to run it through her hair. As she brushed the mess that was her hair she hummed softly to herself and tried to distract herself before she had second thoughts on going through with the plan. Once she had finished with her hair she put the brush away and began to search for something else to wear, knowing that if the bride and groom saw her in her armor that they'd put two and two together and realize that something was up.

~In what was once Vedmire and Stonefell's room~

Elsys straighten up slightly and glanced down at her dress with a disappointed expression on her face. "It's going to be a damn shame to get blood all over this, it was honestly one of my personal favorites." She told herself as she sat down on the bed and slowly began to put her hair up. A soft sigh escaped her as she thought about her actions the previous evening but shook her head slightly and mumbled something under her breath before standing up again and walking over to the chair in the corner of the room. "No... this won't do at all. Kerrion, my love, in my pack there's a set of fine clothes that I had tailor made just for you. Try them on see how you like them."

Kerrion, who was still in a bit of a haze from their earlier 'fun', slowly got out of the bed and slowly began to walk over towards where he had seen Elsys put her pack. After a couple of minutes he pulled out what he assumed to be the clothing she had mentioned. He glanced at them for a moment before placing them down on the bed and took a breath before trying them on.

~In the room with four beds~

Sirron rolled out of the bed he'd been sleeping in and cursed silently to himself as he slowly pulled himself up off the floor. He rubbed the back of his head slightly and glanced around the room for a moment and a horrified look crossed his face when he realized that the others had seen him fall out of the bed. A faint hint of a blush crossed his face as he quickly tried to play it off like he had meant to do it. "Good morning... uhh... did you all sleep well?" He questioned with a fake smile as he quickly pulled a set of common clothes out of his pack and began to get changed.

Frederick snorted slightly as he laughed at his friend before slowly crawling out of bed and begining to make himself look a little more presentable than he had been. He looks around at the others in the room for a moment before slowly removing his cloak and other clothes off before quickly changing into a set of fine clothes that Elsys had bought him a couple days after she had rescued him, Sirron and Void. He takes a quick breath and places his old clothes away. As he runs his fingers through his hair he looks at the others and fakes a small smile. "Eh... I slept decently enough. I just wish that things were different... ya know."

Ghadath fought back his laughter as he slowly gets out of the bed he had been sleeping in. He hummed softly when he saw Frederick in the fine clothes before looking down at his robes with a small frown. "I slept alright, although I kept thinking about something..." he trailed off slightly and scratched the back of his neck before casting prestidigitation on his robes. "You look good Frederick."

Goran kept quiet as he stretched a little and glanced down at the Tiefling with a small smirk. It looked as though he was about to say something but stopped when he noticed the way that Ghadath had been looking at Frederick before pulling on his armor and walking over towards the door. "That was a decent enough rest, although it would have been nice if someone warned me that this one talked in his sleep." He said motioning towards Sirron before leaving the room.

~Down in the taproom~

As Void sat at the same table that they'd sat at the previous night, the bartender brought out a plate of food out to her with a small hint of a smile. She forced a small smile back before looking down at the plate. "Thank you, sir." She said in a quiet tone before hesitantly picking at the food on it. The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs made her push the plate away and glanced over her shoulder to see who it was. To say she was surprised to see Vedmire coming down the stairs was a bit of an understatement. "Good morning."

Vedmire glanced down when he heard the soft voice coming from downstairs before nodding slightly as he spotted the other Tiefling that was sitting at the table. Once he reached the taproom he walked over towards the table. "Mornin'." He said dryly before leaning his sword against one of the empty nearby tables. He sat down on the other side of the table and glanced at the plate with a raised brow before nodding to the bartender who brought over a second plate of food and placed it in front of one of the empty seats at the table.

Void offered a faint smile that replaced the fake on she had given to the bartender only a couple minutes prior. "If you want you can have mine. I'm not really that hungry." She motioned towards the plate in front of her as she made her offer. As she watched him take the plate her smile grew a little bit and she leaned back in her seat. "Last night wasn't the greatest... I had a terrible nightmare. It started with us fleeing from the wedding... most of us had minor injuries but that Kerrion fellow had lost an arm somehow. After fleeing we ended up in a forest but it wasn't one that I am familiar with, it was full of mist... or maybe fog. In the forest we were attacked by a pack of regular wolves and three large wolves...." She trailed off and looked down at the table with a nervous chuckle.

Frederick began to make his way down the stairs and paused halfway down as he overheard Void talking about her nightmare. His fingers grasped the rail on the stairs tightly and he takes a deep breath before finally moving again. "It was just a nightmare V, I'm sure that everything will go fine. If we do end up in some weird ass mist filled forest we'll be ready for it, probably." He said before taking a seat across from the plate that was sitting in front of the other empty chair at the table. He glanced at the plate in front of the Goliath and asked the bartender if he could have a plate of food as well.

As Vedmire continued to eat he couldn't help but wonder if it really had been just a nightmare or if it had been a vision of some sort. Although the idea of someone being able to see into the future seemed farfetched to him, he couldn't help but wonder given how shaken up the poor girl was as she tried to explain it to him. "If Kerrion was to lose an arm it wouldn't be the first time one of us has obtained a nasty injury in battle."

Just as his name was mentioned Kerrion was making his way down the stairs. Although he didn't really give much attention to the conversation at hand he couldn't help but wonder why they were talking about battle injuries. "What makes you so certain that I'd be the one losing the arm? I know I might look out of practice but I'm certain that I can hold my own against whatever they may have planned in case of an attempt such as this." He said, pretending to be mildly offended. Then he let out a laugh and made his way to the table before sitting at the remaining empty seat at the table. "Elsys will be down in a minute or two, she said that she had a few last moment things to do then she'd be ready to join us."

Ghadath descended the stairs, a faint trace of a smile gracing his lips, followed by Sirron who seemed to be blushing slightly. Ghadath chuckled softly when he noticed Sirron's blush and 'gently' punched his shoulder before walking over to the table behind the one everyone else was sitting at. "You know we're never going to let you live that one down, right?" He said before turning his seat so he could face the others. "So 'mother' is going to be a little late when it comes to joining us?" Sirron questioned as he sat across from the Goliath and glanced towards Stonefell with a faint trace of a smirk. "I wonder why that could be."

Kerrion nodded slightly as he looked down at the plate in front of him with a raised brow. After a few seconds he looked over to Goran with a 'You didn't have to do this.' look before he hesitantly began to eat. "I know I didn't have to but I wanted to." Vedmire responded in a somewhat dry manner. That earned him a slightly annoyed look from the other which he more or less waved off. "Come on Kerrion, don't be like that. Sure it's not as good as what you were use to but it's still edible and that has got to account for something, correct."

"If I had to compare it to what he was 'eatin' ' earlier then I'd probably disagree with you. But then again I'm not really into that." Sirron hummed softly as his tail began to slowly wrap around the chair. His fingers gently tapped the table as he glanced up towards the upper floor with a small trace of a frown. "Now what was that whole losing an arm thing about? I know there's been some talk about possible failure and the potential outcomes of said failure but never in the conversation was there mention of losing a limb."

"Your sister was just telling us about a nightmare that she had. In it Kerrion somehow lost his arm while we we're fleeing." Frederick explained before running a hand against his own left arm with a small hint of a frown. What he hadn't told the others was that he'd had a similar dream involving failure but unlike in Void's dream in his he had been the one to get injured, losing an arm and his right eye in the process of fleeing. "But nightmares are just dreams, they can't be used to predict the future... if they could then I'd probably be dead soon." Void dug her nails into the table and glared daggers towards the young noble. "Oh yeah, well if you think nightmares are just dreams then why was Wit killed?"

The mood at the table dropped at the mention of Wit. Within moments she slowly rose to her feet and walked over towards the seat Frederick was sitting in. Just as she was about to reach for one of her daggers she felt herself beging lifted up from behind and she began to struggle as Ghadath glanced down at her with an unamused expression. "Put me down you fuckin' asshole!" She shouted only to find herself being carried towards the door of the tavern. "If El wants to know where we've gone tell her that we're outside. She needs to cool down for a little bit..." He explained as she continued to struggle to break free of his grasp.

As the duo stepped outside there was a couple seconds of silence as some of the group tried to process what in the nine hells had just happened. "Who was this Wit person she mentioned?" Vedmire asked with a mildly confused expression on his face. There was a low murmur of equal confusion from the others but after a moment the room fell silent as Elsys let out a soft sigh from the bottom of the stairs. As she stepped into the taproom she looked towards the others before looking at the door. "Wit was Void's twin brother... he was killed by his own mother while they were trying to escape with me and Sirron." She replied before slowly walking towards the door. "After everyone is done eating head outside so we can go. I'll go help calm Void down so we don't have any more blow ups like that." With that she walked across the room before exiting the tavern with a soft sigh closely followed by Sirron who wanted to help calm his sister.

After a couple minutes Goran finished eating and slowly got up from his seat. He grabbed his sword and returned it to his back before he took the plate from the table and brought it over to the counter. Almost immediately the bartender took the plate and began to clean it, looking towards the door with a small frown. "I'm guessing that I might not see you three again for quite some time... it's a damn shame. You're some of my best customers." There was a moment of silence as the Goliath nodded slightly. The bartender looked a little upset when he saw him nod in response. "Well when you do come back... if you do come back then I'll be ready for you. I look forward to seeing you all back, hopefully."

Upon hearing this Goran nodded slightly and began to walk towards the door, casting a glance back at Stonefell. Kerrion nodded ever so slightly before continuing to eat his food. His free hand's fingers gently tapped on the table as he looked at Frederick as he stared silently at the table with a slightly blank expression on his face. "I fucked everything up again... didn't I?" He murmured with a small frown. Kerrion shrugged slightly not entirely sure what to say in response to his question. "You didn't know, none of us knew. We've all fucked up here and there, so I have no room to judge."

Stonefell finished his breakfast and stood up from his seat before motioning for the young noble to follow him. "Anyway we should probably get a move on before they decided to head off without us." As he began to walk by the counter he tossed a gold piece on it and gave the bartender a little smile before making his way towards the door, stopping only to make sure that Frederick was coming along. When he noticed that the young man was hesitantly getting up from his seat he let out a soft sigh before motioning for him to come along again. "I... I'm coming." He murmured before moving a little quicker towards the door.

~On the carriage ride to the wedding, inside of the carriage~

"I remember the first couple nights we spent together, he would wake up in a cold sweat... believing that there was something wrong. Although I couldn't blame him for doing so, I sometimes scare myself when I feel it happening." Elsys glanced down at her hands for a moment before glancing up at the others with a faint hint of a smile. Ghadath and Sirron glanced at each other with a look of surprise on their faces and Frederick shifted backwards a little as he looked at the Sorcerer with a look of uncertainty. "What...? Sure it's a little strange but at least I bleed normally. My father on the other hand almost never did, no matter how severe the injury was and my older brother almost never blinked..."

"I don't understand how that is even possible. Only once a minute...? How are you even alive then?" Sirron questioned after about a minute of silence. His tail slowly began to tighten around his leg as he thought about the possibilities of what she had just told them to be true. "Are you secretly a vampire or some other undead creature?"

"I know it's a lot to take in but it's entirely true Sirron. Sure it's quite a pain to deal with but it's merely a little annoyance that I have to deal with daily. Look on the bright side, I can always fake my own death if shit hits the fan and most people would just believe me to actually be dead." She paused slightly and glanced outside of the window of the door. She let out a soft sigh and placed her hands in her lap. "She's not a vampire or some kind of undead. Trust me, I've dealt with undead before and she's not one." Kerrion replied, a small trace of annoyance in his voice. She glanced over at him with a faint trace of a small smile. "Yeah, sometimes I might feel like one in my mind but I'm just a High Elf with what most people would consider a really shitty condition."

Ghadath and Frederick fell silent as they looked between each other with curious expressions while Sirron nodded slightly before shifting his gaze towards the window. "I believe you both, it's just surprising to hear you talk about it. It just seems so... impossible but I trust her and believe you both." He said with a soft hint of a smile.

~Outside of the carriage~

Void shifted ever so slightly as her grasp tightened on the reigns a little bit. "Have you ever done something even though you didn't really want to do it? Because although I want to see my mother pay for what she did... but part of me doesn't want to be there, mostly because if it goes badly I'll be forced to watch all of my friends die and I don't really want that to happen." She said with a soft sigh as she looked towards Vedmire with a curious expression. He glanced over towards her for a moment and shrugged slightly before looking ahead to check for any dangers that may lurk ahead of them.

"... Watching those that you see as friends die is never easy but that just part of life. One minute everything is going well and then shite goes to hell in the blink of an eye." He replied after a couple minutes before glancing towards the west side of the road with a raised brow. "Did you happen to see that?" He asked, unsure if it had actually been something or if it had just been his imagination playing tricks with him. "Sorry, I didn't see anything other than trees and dirt."

Chapter Text

~The carriage ride, continued~

"She was only ten... and that fuckin' bitch slit her throat in front of me. I wanted nothing more than to tear her insides out and strangle her with them, but before I could make a move she had one of her guards run me through. If it wasn't for Kerrion and Goran I'd be dead." Elsys said in a sorrowful manner, shutting her eyes as she thought back to the day that had lead her down the path of vengeance. Sirron and the others glanced between themselves trying to think of something to say but nothing they thought of felt right in that moment. Kerrion stayed quiet but ran a hand over the fabric where the scar from the injury she'd mentioned was located, causing her to open her eyes. "I'll have my chance at paying her back later, and when I do... well let's just say it's not going to be pretty."

Sirron nodded in an understanding manner before slowly leaning up against Ghadath who had taken to looking out the window after hearing about what had happened to their leader and her child. "You could always hit her with a slow acting poison and a spell or two. Or maybe use that terrifying shadow hound of yours." He suggested earning a small hum from the High Elf. "Hmmm... It has been awhile since Wrath has gotten a chance to play, perhaps I will summon him if things get out of hand."

"And if that doesn't work then poison, magic and perhaps a hit or two from Kerrion should be sufficient." Ghadath added as his gaze shifted to their leader with a rather sad look on his face. "Or maybe a hit or two from Goran... either way she'll get what's coming to her. I know it won't exactly get your daughter back but you have a new 'family' that will always have your back, no matter what."

A faint sigh escaped Elsys as she listened to Ghadath's suggestions before she leaned against Kerrion. "We lost our daughter and gained an idiot and three barely confident children... my what a fantastic family this is." The level of sarcasm mixed with venom in her voice was unexpected and earned nervous looks from Sirron and Frederick, a disappointed look from Ghadath and a mildly shocked and somewhat confused look from Stonefell. After a couple seconds he tapped her arm gently before motioning for her to lean down a little bit. She hesitated a little before bending down some, he quickly whispered something in her ear and a look of sudden realization crossed her face as a faint hint of a blush began to take it's place on her pale features. "Sorry about that lads, I'm just a little stressed right now and not exactly in the best of moods at the moment. You know I truly do care about you all and ..." she trailed off slightly and scratched the back of her neck slightly.

~Outside~

Void handed the reigns to Vedmire as she took over watch duty for him. "Do you think we'll actually stand a chance of succeeding in this endeavor?" She asked with a curious and slightly worried expression. There was a momentary silence as he thought over her words carefully.

He took a breath before shrugging slightly. "Even though it seems highly unlikely, although I'd like to think we have a high chance of succeeding the truth is... I think this might be one of our last jobs, if you know what I mean. Kerrion can be clever when he wants to be but he's not thinking rationally, he wants you're mother's head and although I understand why, he's going around it the wrong way." The Goliath responded as his grip tightened on the reigns ever so slightly. "You seem like an equally intelligent lass, perhaps you can talk some sense into both Kerrion and Elsys. I know they won't turn back now but maybe you can get them to actually follow the plan."

Void had hoped that his words would bring a welcomed sense of relief but now she was even more nervous about the likelihood of success and the safety of the others in the group as well. They had been more of a family to her than her biological family had been but now it was apparent that at least three of the group was blinded by vengeance and although she could understand why she didn't want to lose any of them because of it. "I understand, I just wish you could have lied to me and said that 'everything would be fine' just like the others do. There's a lot of people that want my mother's head these days and there have been a few that almost succeeded in taking it... they just hadn't expected her to have him with her. That fuckin' piece of work Warlock that she's going to be marrying... he's saved her ass too many times to count." She sighed softly before shifting her gaze towards the trees. "If we took him and the guards out first then she would be an easier target... just saying."

Hearing this a small trace of a smirk took it's place on his lips as he took note of it. She seemed to have worked up another plan after they had left town and to be honest he was curious as to if this one would fair any better than the previous one. "Take out the guards and Warlock first? That would be the most logical move, but do you really think she'll let him out of her sight long enough for one of us to get the drop on him?" His question left his lips just as 'Fuckin' hell kid, get off me!' came from inside the carriage. He raised a brow slightly before hearing 'I can get the drop on him if need be. He'd never expect his son to have turned traitor, like he did.' earning a soft 'hmmm' from Void and who he thought might have been Kerrion due to the earlier cursing. "Well that would settle the Warlock problem leaving myself, Sirron and Ghadath to deal with the guards then?"

"Exactly, you said it yourself 'I can take a few guards easily' and with those two at your side you could probably take down twice as many within a shorter period of time. I can also lend a hand at least until we find her, then all bets are off." Void said with a soft chuckle before feeling something hit her tail ever so slightly. As she turned to see what had hit her a faint trace of a smile began to cross her lips. "You're finally back, friend. What news do you have for us?" Goran raised a brow slightly as he watched her speaking with something that he couldn't see at the moment. Until he saw her pull what looked to be a note of some kind from what he could only assume was a crow or maybe a raven. "There was a rebellion in Whitestone? I... I don't really know where that is but thank you for the news." She hummed softly as the feathered creature flew away after a couple seconds.

"Did you just say that there was a rebellion in Whitestone? We almost took a job there about five years ago but we ended up taking a separate job while our allies Tylieri and Jazna decided to take the couple up on their offer. Perhaps their having an equally shitty time of it." Vedmire let out a halfhearted laugh as he thought about the possibility that two of his former companions were likely dead or in hiding at the current time. "It's unfortunate to hear but sometimes shite like that happens and I doubt they got away before the rebellion..." he trailed off slightly and shook his head with a small frown. "It's not exactly important right now though. If they did get away then maybe we'll cross paths with them again somewhere down the line."

Void took a deep breath and shifted slightly as she heard about their allies in Whitestone. She placed her hands in her lap and cleared her throat slightly before motioning towards the woods with her tail a little. "We're almost there... but I think we might have 'guests'." She said in a low tone that was just above a whisper. Vedmire nodded slightly as he glanced towards the spot that she had pointed out before casually knocking on the carriage to gain the attention of those inside of the carriage. "We have 'guests' guys." Void said before hopping down from the carriage, pulling out her rapier with a small hint of a dull and somewhat disappointed look on her face.

Upon hearing this Ghadath hopped out of the carriage and pulled out his staff with a small hint of a smirk. "How many 'guests' are we looking at Void?" He questioned with a small raise of his brow. The Tiefling shrugged slightly. "At least five if not more. I'm not entirely sure what they are but there are two on each side of the carriage right now and there might be more following a short distance behind them." She replied with a nervous chuckle just as Sirron slipped out from the carriage and pulls out the crossbow he had been 'given'. "Heard you talkin' about 'guests'. We got some bodies that we need to take care of?" She nodded slightly in response and a small smile crossed his face. "Good, I can get a little target practice in before the real show begins."

As they spoke a human and halfling male stepped out from the woods on one side while a male green Dragonborn and a female hill Dwarf stepped out from the other side. "Hand over your valuables and ya might just make it outta this alive." The human said with a smug look on his face as he readied his battle-axe hoping that the group would put up a fight. The other 'bandits' also drew their weapons in preparation for a battle until Elsys exited the carriage and the once smug expression on the man's face faded before a look of surprise took it's place. "Lady Winterdream... is that really you? I... I thought you had been killed by that... that bitch ten years ago. How is this even possible?"

"Yes, it's really me. Stories of my death were highly exaggerated. I was saved by my husband and one of our close friends." She explained, running her hand over where the worst of her injuries from that night had been. "You know, it's nice to see you again Verdell. Are your smithing skills still as impressive as they were when I hired you to make that Warhammer after Kerrion's original was destroyed during..." She trailed off slightly and glanced over towards the man with a very faint yet still slightly noticable smile.

"Yeah, there still as good as you remember madam. I've been outfitting a group of rebels with armor and the weapons necessary to hopefully take down Crestheart and Cloudfall before they make our lives even worse than they have already." He replied before motioning towards the other three with him. "I'm guessing since you're here we share a similar goal then?" Elsys nodded before motioning for the others to lower their weapons.

"That would be correct more or less. Although we aren't exactly what one would call a resistance, we're just a handful of people that want to make things right even if it does end up costing us our lives to do so." Elsys replied even though she wasn't entirely honest about the last part. She was almost certain that her plan would work even though the chances of it failing were actually pretty high. "If you want to help us take them down I could always find a way of sneaking you all into the castle. Perhaps with some wonderful disguises we could fool their guards into believing that your all our guards and when the time comes you could drop the disguises and help take on the guards so we won't have to worry about getting cornered when we have them right where we want them."

Verdell thought it over as he glanced at his companions for a moment trying to gauge how they felt about the matter. "It would be quiet the honor to work alongside you once again Elsy." The Hill Dwarf said as she took a step forwards. The Halfling and the Dragonborn looked between each other for a moment before the Halfling nodded and the Dragonborn shrugged slightly. "If it means taking those arseholes down then count us in as well. We're tired of them putting us through the nine hells just because we were at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Elsys nodded slightly and glanced back at the carriage for a moment before clearing her throat slightly. "It's nice to know we're on the same page guys. Kastic, Einras, Oswan... you remember Goran Vedmire and Kerrion Stonefell, correct?" The trio looked between each other for a few seconds before hesitantly nodding simultaneously with one another before Einras moved a little bit closer towards her. "Your advisor and your husband...? Why wouldn't we remember them... wait is the Goliath driving the carriage Vedmire...? Holy shit I didn't even recognize him, that facial hair sure is new..." She paused for a moment before waving slightly at the Goliath with a very soft smile. "Yeah, it is rather new but it's a nice improvement. I think it's thanks to a item but it does make him look rather distinguished in comparison to how he once looked, am I right?"

Kastic, Oswan and Verdell looked at Einras and then to the Goliath for a moment as they mumbled between themselves before nodding slightly in response to her question. "It's not natural but it does look rather good on him." Oswan said with a soft chuckle as he gave him a small and somewhat flirtatious smile. "... Is Kerrion still in there?" Kastic questioned, motioning towards the carriage with a curious expression on his face. Before anyone could say anything Stonefell made his way out of the carriage with a faint sigh. "Ah... Master Stonefell it is quite pleasant to see you again. You look... well..." The Dragonborn trailed off and ran his hand against the back of his head with a nervous chuckle.

Kerrion raised a brow slightly as he glanced over towards the small group. "You guys are still alive? I thought 'Lady' Crestheart would have killed you to keep her 'little' take over under wraps." As he spoke he walked over to Elsys' side and glanced up at her with a small frown. "I know... I've gained quite a bit of weight since we last saw each other but that doesn't matter right now. If you're planning on assisting us then we should get a move on before one of her pets or meat shields finds out we're here and tells her of our arrival." His voice was laced with venom as his fingers slowly began to tighten against his Warhammer just a little.

Chapter Text

Sirron took a breath as he looked at Elsys and Kerrion with a small smile before casting Polymorph on Kerrion. As it was his first time casting the spell he was a little excited when it seemed to have worked. Kerrion looked down with a raised brow, unsure of what to think of the transformation that had occurred. "That should do... Elsys what do you think?" Sirron questioned with a small smile.

As she looked over the now Polymorphed Kerrion a faint smile crossed her lips and she whistled softly. "Nice work Sirron. I'm pretty sure that they won't recognize him now, but if they do then they'll hopefully assume that he's working with me." As she spoke she tapped her fingers against her legs. After a couple seconds she cast Alter Self on herself and let out a soft hum before turning to the others in the group. She cleared her throat slightly and wiped some non-existent dirt off of her dress. "I hope this works." She said under her breath before walking over towards Kerrion and humming softly. "It feels rather off... having to pretend to be a couple when you were or rather are married to the other party involved."

Kerrion watched as she approached and slowly nodded in response to what she'd said. In truth he was starting to feel a bit skeptical about the plan working but he didn't bring it up because it was more or less to late to turn back now. "It does... but it actually feels nice to be the tall one in the relationship for once." He said in a joking manner before taking a breath. For a couple seconds he looked Elsys up and down before a faint smile started to take form. "You look just as beautiful as you did when we first met. Although thinking about it right now you've always looked that beautiful, no matter what the situation was."

Goran raised a brow slightly as he looked between Elsys and Kerrion before placing a hand on his hip. "Don't let the hight go to your head arsehole." He murmured with a faint frown. He took a moment to look at the rest of the group before taking a deep breath and mumbling something underneath his breath. He took a few steps forwards before glancing back at the others with a mildly annoyed look on his face. "Are we just going to stand around like a bunch of dumbarses or are we going to get our arses in gear and put this plan into proper motion?"

Elsys took a breath before slowly straightening up with a very soft sigh. "Well then, I think it's time that we get this show on the road. When the time comes we'll get our sweet revenge against Valentina and Nikolai... or die trying, either way things are going to get pretty dangerous as soon as we step through those gates. One wrong move could spell the end of one or all of us." She said with a serious tone and an equally serious expression. She took a deep breath before walking towards the gates, motioning for the rest of the group to follow her.

~ Inside the Church ~

"Ah, Madam Stoneward this must be that husband you're always gushing about. He is quite handsome indeed, I wish my husband was that attractive but beggars can't be choosers." A middle aged woman said with a soft sigh before hesitantly motioning towards her own husband with a slightly disgusted look. Elsys and Kerrion chuckled softly as they listened to her talking about her husband. "He's still better than my previous husband but not by much."

"Your previous husband was absolutely horrible but sometimes you have to give up one thing for another. It's quite hard to find a man that not only looks good but treats you good as well. I guess when you said I was lucky you weren't kidding." Elsys said as she felt Kerrion take her hand in his. She smiled ever so softly before slowly walking towards the second row, casting a quick glance behind her. 'I hope the others are in their places, this could end up going south extremely fast if they aren't.' She thought as she took a seat and gently began to run a finger over Kerrion's palm as she tried to keep herself and her partner calm.

"My dearest, it's okay. I know it's been awhile since we've been to a social outting like this but we can get through it." Kerrion said in a low and steady voice. His fingers grazed her's as he fought the urge to snap and kill Nikolai where he stood. He gently nuzzles against her with a soft blush as he did his best to keep things together, but his enjoyment was short lived as a woman in her late thirties approached the couple and cleared her throat slightly. He rolled his eyes a little and glanced up at the woman with an annoyed expression and as she began to talk he let out an equally annoyed groan.

"Hello handsome, why don't you ditch the ugly bitch and join me and my husband?" The woman said earning a death glare from Elsys. Kerrion rolled his eyes slightly and flipped the woman off with an annoyed expression. "That 'ugly bitch' you're referring to is my wife and the mother of my children. The only really 'ugly bitch' I see here is you, kindly remove yourself from our space our I'll have the guards deal with your disgusting ass." He hissed before shifting his glance towards the front of the church in an attempt to ignore the woman. The woman looked shocked by his response before glancing between the pair for a moment. "You... you two have children? I..." She trailed off and sulked away to where her husband was sitting.

Elsys quietly watched the woman walking over to her husband and shrugged slightly before shifting her gaze towards the door of the church as Valentina entered them looking just as horrible as she had the day she killed 'her' and her daughter. She dug her nails into the wood of the bench they were sitting on as her death glare intensified and it took every fiber of her being not to set her dress on fire, knowing that any further deviation from the plan would likely cause unnecessary casualties. 'Enjoy yourself while you still can. Because after the ceremony there'll be two less pieces of shit in this city.'

Sirron who had slipped onto the bench behind them tapped the back of their bench and leaned forwards slightly before whispering to them. "Everyone is in place and waiting for the order. Ghadath was able to 'hide' the tools we'll need and Goran has already sawyed a few of their guards over to our cause. I'm honestly surprised that things actually seem to be going out way for once." Then he leaned back and glanced over towards Valentina with a raised brow. 'So this is the monster that murdered her daughter? Well I guess looks can be quiet deceiving. If we can take her out then it'll... it'll make the world just a little bit better.' He thought as he watched her walking down the aisle.

As the ceremony began Frederick sat down beside Kerrion and Void sat down beside Sirron, having disguised themselves to make sure that their respective parent didn't recognize them. Frederick glanced down at the floor quietly and thought about what was going to go down. There was a large part of him that was looking forwards to taking out the man that had pushed him aside for the horrid woman who had destroyed the lives of his more or less adopted parents but there was a very small part of him that wondered if there was a way to sway his father into turning against her. Void on the other hand was glaring daggers at her mother, imagining what would happen to her wretch of a mother and dug her nails into the bench. 'If Elsys and Kerrion don't get the last shot on her, I will. She made my life a living hell and she deserves a slow and painful death.'

Sirron noticed Void's reaction and hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder before leaning slightly. "Void, calm down... you're going to blow our cover if you don't. Ghadath, Vedmire and the others are prepared and do we really want to throw all their hard work into the trash?" He whispered before straightening up and straightened his collar a little bit. '... Oh hey, isn't that the messenger we ran into yesterday? I wonder what he's doing here... and with a handsome gentleman at that? Could it be that they're siblings or maybe friends?' He thought as he spotted a young man sitting across from them with a man with white hair and glasses.

The mysterious white haired man with the glasses seemed fixated on someone sitting three rows ahead of the pair. Sirron raise a brow ever so slightly and shifted his gaze towards where the man was staring and mumbled something underneath his breath when he spotted the woman further ahead of them. 'Is he in a similar situation to ours?' He thought before Wincing slightly as he felt nails digging into his hand. "Void..." She quietly turned her attention towards him and quickly moved her hand away from his, whispering a barely audible apology before turning her attention back towards her former mother.

~With Vedmire and the others~

Ghadath covered one of the guards' mouths with his hand and spun a dagger in his other hand before slowly pressing it against the guard's throat with a small smirk. "Now then, if you don't assist me and my friends in killing those tyrannical assholes then my hand might just slip and I doubt you'd like that outcome." He said in a somewhat growly manner, digging his fingers into the skin of the guard's mouth area, letting his short nails dug into their skin.

There was fear in the guard's eyes as he felt the blade up against his neck but he stayed quiet until the other Goliath with the large sword walked over. His fear seemed to increase tenfold as he spotted the blood covering the massive sword and a soft whimper escape him. Vedmire glared down at the man for a second motioning for Ghadath to let him go, he did so after a moment of hesitation then backed up enough so he wouldn't be in range of his attack. "You don't deserve to partake in our plan you disgusting little shite. If it wasn't for you my wife and child would still be around." Although that last part was a lie he couldn't help but look absolutely disgusted before slicing the guard in two without hesitation.

"You had a wife and child?" Ghadath asked with a curious expression. Goran glanced at Ghadath for a second before shaking his head ever so slightly. "I do have a lover but she's quite alive and technically we don't have a child just yet, although that will be changing in a few months." He admitted with a small hint of a shrug. Ghadath raised a brow ever so slightly before glancing down at the blood that had gotten onto his clothes."Your partner is pregnant and you're here risking your life?" He asked as he tried to wipe the blood off of his cloak. Vedmire fell silent for a moment before wiping the blood off of his sword and taking a deep breath. "I know how it sounds but she used to live in this city and I thought that if we were able to take back the city from those who took it from us back in the day then we could possibly raise our child here if things go right."

Ghadath nodded ever so slightly before grabbing one part of the dead guard and dragging it towards one of the unoccupied rooms with a somewhat disgusted look as more blood got onto him. "Could you at least make your kills a little cleaner? People will start to get suspicious if they see a 'guard' soaked in blood at a wedding." He said in a mildly annoyed manner. Goran didn't say anything in response and simply dragged the rest of the body to the room as well before tossing it in and looking down at his 'uniform' for a moment.

"If anyone questions it just tell them that we took care of a couple assassins that were posing as guards. It's more likely than you'd think at events like this." He explained before shutting and locking the door behind him. Then he took a deep breath and placed his sword on his back and moved back to his position and after a couple seconds Ghadath stood beside him and placed his hands behind his back. "Elsys, Kerrion, my partner and myself were all in a situation where this happened and well you already know how that ended. The only thing that she didn't tell you was that her daughter was murdered and Elsys was almost killed at my partner's younger sister's wedding. She was marrying our 'friend' Tylieri... although the marriage lasted longer than I expected it would, apparently Tylieri was murdered rather recently in a city known as Whitestone and I have no clue what happened to Ravafina's sister."

Hearing about the murder attempt at the wedding earned a shocked expression and as Ghadath thought back to the conversation earlier he took a deep breath. "So that's why she chose to do this at her wedding? That makes a lot more sense than the theory that I had come up with and it gives it that much more meaning." He shifted slightly where he stood and glanced at Vedmire with a raised brow. "Do you think if she's still alive she's still here or in Whitestone?"

Goran didn't say anything in response but he shrugged ever so slightly. He glanced down at his uniform again and wiped a little of the blood off of it before straightening up to his full height. He took a deep breath and looked towards the door for a moment. "I doubt that she did but it doesn't really matter at the moment. We have a job to do and it would be best if we don't fuck it up. When shite hits the fan you better be ready to pull your weight, you little c-..." He trailed off and shifted his gaze a couple seconds later.

~Back in the church~

It was becoming more and more difficult for Elsys to keep herself composed as the ceremony continued, even Kerrion's attempts to keep her calm were steadily becoming less and less effective. Sirron and Void looked between each other for a moment before Sirron leaned forwards and gently placed his hand on Elsys' shoulder. "Hey... you need to calm down... please." He whispered, before casting calm emotions on her. Then he leaned back and faked a small smile as he glanced over towards the messenger and his friend/sibling. Void let out a soft and somewhat annoyed sigh as her mother and Frederick's father exchanged their vows.

'Fucking assholes... we'll make sure you pay for what you did. You ruined my fucking life and their lives as well.' She thought as her gaze shifted from her biological mother to her more or less adopted parents. She tapped her nails on the bench before dragging them across the wood, leaving deep scratches as she saw the two people who had ruined many peoples lives kissing. She quickly pushed herself onto her feet and storms out of the church in a huff, quickly followed by Frederick.

"It's almost time~" Kerrion murmured in a somewhat excited manner as he fantasized about getting their sweet revenge. As their targets began to make their way towards the door he glared at them with a small smirk before slowly getting up and offering Elsys a hand. "Shall we, my dear?"

She took his hand and lifted herself onto her feet before glancing at Sirron for a moment before motioning for him to follow them. As the three began to leave the church they passed by the young messenger and his associate and Sirron quickly stopped and whispered something to the young man before rushing off to catch up with Elsys and Kerrion, not wanting to miss out on the fun. The messenger and his associate stayed back up until the woman that the associate had been watching got up and proceeded to leave. "A-are you sure that's her?" The messenger asked although he didn't receive an answer to it.

~At the Reception~

"The pieces are all in place, upon your signal my lady we'll set things in motion. Although we will need to make sure that any civilians are escorted out before shit gets out of hand." Ghadath whispered as Goran and him walked closely behind Elsys and Kerrion. Elsys nodded ever so slightly and took a breath as she tried her best to keep it together.

"We have swayed a few of the guards over to our side but if you think it would be best if we cut them down before shite hits the windmill then we can take care of that." Vedmire said in just above a whisper, trying to make sure that the others around didn't hear them. Kerrion nodded slightly before looking down at his hands for a moment. A panicked expression crossed his face as he noticed that the spell Sirron had cast was starting to fade. He quickly ducked into one of the nearby rooms and upon noticing that Elsys followed behind him.

"Damnit... this is going to make things a little more difficult but we can do this. We can do this, hopefully they don't recognize me."

Chapter Text

Elsys took a breath as she dropped her spell then she looked down at Kerrion before nodding ever so slightly. "I'm sure that the others will be satisfied with... wait do you hear that?" She shifted her gaze towards the door and cursed under her breath as she heard what sounded like metal striking metal. Kerrion glanced at the door and reached behind his back to grab his warhammer before cursing under his breath when he remembered that he currently didn't have it on him. He shifted his gaze to Elsys and tugged on her sleeve trying to get her attention.

"Darling... you wouldn't happen to have a spare weapon on you, would you?" He questioned with a hint of urgency in his voice. There was a momentary silence as she knelt down and placed a bag down on the floor before reaching into the bag and fishing around in it for a few seconds. He watched on quietly wondering what she was doing, although when he saw her pull a rapier out of the bag. "... What else do you have in there?"

She shrugged slightly before placing the rapier down and digging further down. With a faint hint of a chuckle she pulled out a warhammer similar to the one that he used before offering it to him with a small smile. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Although I do have Sirron, Frederick and Void's weapons in there... well technically only Frederick and Void's now but I think you get the idea. Now let's get out there before Ghadath and Goran have the fun."

Kerrion grabbed the warhammer and Sirron's rapier before pushing the door open, only to find Sirron who was reaching for the door as well. "Guys the guards that Vedmire and Ghadath had 'swayed to our side' began attacking us and... hey is that my rapier?" As he spoke he reached for the weapon glancing back towards where the sound of clashing metal was coming from. Kerrion nodded slightly before handing it over and rushing past him with a somewhat excited look on his face. As he passed the Tiefling he whispered, "I knew that would happen. I had hoped Goran would have killed them before things got to this but oh well."

Sirron paused for a moment before turning and rushing after him with a faintly nervous expression. His grip tightened on the hilt of the rapier and he took a deep breath. "You got this, you got this. All you have to do is not mess up and strike without hesitation." He told himself under his breath before glancing back to see Elsys who had exited the room and pulled a light crossbow and a case of bolts out of her bag. He was going to say something but within seconds she was right beside him and offered a rather reassuring smile.

"We've got this." She told him, readying a bolt into the crossbow. He hesitantly nodded in response before rushing off towards the sound of combat a slight distance behind Kerrion. Elsys took a breath and followed, keeping a slight distance between herself and the others knowing that she wasn't going to be much help at the moment. She paused for a moment when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind and quickly turned around, raising her crossbow just in case but when she saw that it was Frederick and Void she lowered the crossbow and got their weapons out for them. "Just a little set back but nothing that we can't handle."

"We heard fighting and we came as fast as we could. The others are doing what they can to distract our parents but I don't know how long they can go for before they realize what's going on." Void said in a low voice as she took her weapon and dashed forwards towards the battle. Frederick glanced down at the floor for a moment as he grabbed his shortsword before undoing his jacket and grabbing one of his daggers that he had hidden just in case things went south.

"Even with a couple little set backs we can still do this. If we don't then the people of this city will suffer more than they already do." Frederick stated before joining the others, leaving Elsys by herself. She quickly turned back and headed forwards with a soft sigh realizing that things were starting to possibly go to shit. 'Maybe this was a mistake. I know I wanted to get revenge on them but do I really want to risk everyone's life just for that?' She thought to herself as she fired a bolt at one of the guards that had been focused on attacking Ghadath. The bolt just barely grazed the guard's face but it gave him a few seconds to pull out his dagger and slash his throat without a moment of hesitation.

Ghadath glanced down at the guard that was bleeding out from the wound he had inflicted on him and a somewhat disappointed expression on his face. "I had hoped that we could have been allies but I was wrong. What a waste." He said in a cold manner before shoving the dying guard to the floor. Elsys looked at him in shock for a moment before loading another bolt into her crossbow. Kerrion glanced over towards them for a moment before turning his gaze back to the guard in front of him, slamming his warhammer into the guard's right knee with a small smirk. He paused for a moment to savor the pained crys from the guard before bringing down the warhammer on his head.

"Hey, watch it! Ya almost hit me." Sirron snapped as he just barely missed landing his attack on the guard in front of him. He stumbled backwards slightly as the guard swung his sword at him only to miss and imbed itself into the door behind them. Void looked at him with a raised brow before running her rapier into the guard, she pulled it out and thrusted it back into him before pulling it out once again and wiping the blood off on her dress. "... I could have handled that myself." Sirron said under his breath as he straightened up slightly and looked around to see Frederick struggling against two guards.

The young noble went pale as the guard in front of him grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall with a small smirk. The other guard turned believing that his associate had things under control with the young noble and took a shot at Elsys with his crossbow. The bolt missed her and dug deeply into a nearby door. The guard cursed under his breath and turned his head slightly as he heard his fellow guard cry out in a mix of pain and fear. Much to his surprise he saw what he thought was a massive sword swinging downwards as his colleague was split down the middle. He lowered his crossbow as Vedmire glared down at him. Realizing that it was hopeless to even think that he could stand a chance against these attackers, he dropped his crossbow and then he dropped down to his knees. "P-please don't kill me, I... I can bring you to the Lord and the Lady... please..."

Vedmire kicked the crossbow away from the guard and glanced over towards Elsys for a moment almost as if to ask what he should do. "So quick to change sides? Well that's to bad, we can make our own way to those pieces of shit. Vedmire if you'd be so kind, put this little shit out of his misery." Elsys said with a small smirk before gently tapping her own crossbow. Vedmire nodded slightly before running the guard through with his sword, he took a deep breath before cutting clean through him. "Hmmm... I doubt that this was all of the guards so we should proceed with caution as we move forwards. The last thing we need is to get ambushed by our former guards."

"If we run into any more guards we can take them, sure they'll put up quite a fight but it wouldn't be the first difficult fight we've been through. We just have to watch each other's backs and strike when necessary." Frederick said after having taken a few seconds to catch his breath. He gently rubbed the back of his neck slightly before looking towards the corridor that they had been heading towards when the guards had cut them off. "If we keep going this way we'll be able to make it to the throne room but I doubt that it'll be a clean shot in. We might need to lure the guards back here and take care of them before we can even think of pulling off the final leg of the plan. After the guards are dealt with I will pretend to want my father to take me back and if he believes me I'll lure him off somewhere and finish him off."

Void glanced towards the young noble and faked a small hint of a smile. "He may be your father by blood but family doesn't have to be made up of just people related by blood. I've found that Lady Elsys has been more of a mother to me than my own, and you three have been like the brothers that I never really knew I wanted." She said as she motioned to Frederick, Sirron and Ghadath. Then she took a breath and tightened her grip on her rapier before looking towards Kerrion for a moment. "I guess that would make you my father in this little family then. Which is better than my own father... in a manner of speaking." She let out a very faint chuckle before glancing around for a couple seconds.

There was a momentary silence when she thought she saw the young messager and the man who had been sitting beside him duck into one of the rooms at the end of the corridor they had just came from but shook her head slightly before mumbling something about it being just her imagination. Although Elsys had also noticed the movement and didn't want to say anything about it. "Well in any case we should get a move on before things go south."

The rest of the group nodded and they began to head down the corridor, although Void kept glancing over her shoulder every so often to see if they were being followed by the pair she'd seen earlier. She cursed under her breath as she saw them getting closer however the pair split up and a relived sigh escaped her as the messenger went the same direction as they were going. She slowed up slightly letting the others go ahead of her so she could see if she could find out what him and his friend were doing at the wedding. "Hey... it's nice to see you again. It's nice to see a new face in town and a somewhat familiar looking one at that." She said with a soft hum as her tail gently began to wrap around her legs.

Desmond was honestly surprised when she spoke to him and it took a couple of seconds for him to say something in response to her. " Oh... Uhh... Hello. It's been a bit since we've seen each other... h-how have you been?" He asked with a small hint of a smile before looking down at the floor for a couple seconds before looking up at her again with a raised brow. "W-What are you doing here if you don't mind me asking?"

Void paused for a second and took a deep breath before scratching the back of her neck ever so slightly. "It's complicated... but then again if it wasn't then we probably wouldn't have had to do that." She said as she motioned back towards the dead guards. Then she let out a soft sigh and continued forwards motioning for him to follow her. "My birth mother and my friend Frederick's father just got married... and we're attempting to assassinate them because they destroyed the lives of our adopted parents." She explained with a frown.

Desmond was honestly surprised by what she had just told him but he took a quick breath and glanced towards the rest of her group as they continued forwards. "That's the reason?" He asked with a raised brow. He glanced down at his injured hand for a moment before looking back up at her. "I understand entirely, if somebody ruined my life and the lives of the people that I considered family I would want them to pay for what they had done." He paused for a moment and glanced over towards Elsys for a couple of seconds. "I-if you don't mind me asking what is your adopted mother's name?"

A confused 'hmm?' escaped Void when she heard his question but after a couple seconds she glanced towards Elsys and smiled softly. "Her name is Elsys Winterdream... well technically it might actually Elsys Stonefell but I'm not entirely sure what the hells is going on with that." She responded earning a surprised and somewhat worried look from Desmond. He looked down at the floor and cursed to himself under his breath. "... Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine." He lied, not wanting to look up at her just in case she realized. Then he gently rubbed the back of his neck slightly and took a breath. "It's just she looks like someone that I use to work for although thinking back on it I'm pretty sure that the person that I was thinking about is dead now... so it's... it's fine."

"I had heard that madam Elsys had two younger sisters, but I never met them. That being said I'm pretty sure Sirron is actually the son of one of them..."Void trailed off slightly before taking a quick breath. Then she gently placed a hand on his shoulder and faked a small smile. "Perhaps what happened was for the best. But maybe we shouldn't tell him about it just in case, we don't need him basically turning into Frederick 2.0 although given the circumstances both have their rights to be equally in a morose state." The rest of the way down the corridor was particularly quiet until they heard two guards chatting just ahead of them.

Elsys glanced towards the rest of the party for a moment before clearing her throat slightly. This caught one of the guard's attention and as he turned around she stepped forwards with a faint hint of a smirk before shooting off a purple looking fire bolt towards the guard. As it hit him the other guard turned around and fumbled for his crossbow, the guard that had been hit was in horrible amounts of pain but managed to just barely stay up. "Looks like that hurts a lot, huh? Well... too bad, that's what you get for betraying us." She said in a sing-songish manner before the rest of the group caught up with her.

"L-lady Stonefell?" The uninjured guard managed to stutter out before quickly tossing his crossbow towards the ground before throwing his hands up and backing away towards the wall. "P-please don't do this... I-I have a young daughter and... and I didn't even want to work for them. They threatened to kill my wife and daughter if I didn't take this job... I didn't want to betray you my lady, I just didn't want to lose my family." He said, shaking violently as he did so. The burnt guard turned to him and was about to fire his crossbow at him when a dagger came flying from the back of the group, it embedded itself into the guard's forehead.

The rest of the group looked around half expecting to see Frederick at the back but when they noticed the young messenger and Void were the only ones back there they glanced towards Void. She quickly shook her head before motioning towards Desmond with a faint hint of a smile. There was a stunned silence as they looked at the young man for a moment before turning there attention back to the guard who seemed to have defected from the traitors guards. "As long as you don't try and backstab us like the other two guards that 'defected' earlier." Ghadath growled as he glared down at the terrified guard.

"I-I swear on my life that I'll never betray you guys. In fact I've actually been thinking of joining the revolution to overthrow these fuckers." The guard says before slowly removing his helmet with a faint hint of a smile. As the helmet was removed several strands of hair fell into his face, the guard pushed some of his greying blonde hair out of his face before tossing his helmet towards the window. "M-my name is..."

"Radclyf Tylieri, Lyndon's brother." Kerrion said before glaring at him with a somewhat disappointed expression. "What would your brother think if he found out that you were working for the monsters that kidnapped his son and murdered his niece?" He questioned before punching him in his shoulder slightly.

"He'd probably kill me..." Radclyf trailed off slightly and glanced down at the floor with a saddened expression. After a couple seconds he looked up and took a breath before pulling the dagger from his deceased former colleague. "That being said, if I help you kill them then maybe I can redeem myself in his eyes. I'm not sure if he'd care at this point but it won't hurt to try... yeah?"

Chapter Text

'Okay, that could have been a major set back but at least he's on our side. If he certainly was going to defect now would be the best time to.' Elsys thought as she prepared another bolt in her crossbow.

"Most of the guards are stationed near the throne room but I have no doubt in my mind that if we work together we can take them all." Radclyf said in a reassuring manner as he walked alongside the party. There was a momentary silence as everyone continued forwards, prepared for the battle that was about to occur. "If I die here I just want you and Kerrion to know that you were the best rulers that this city had." He faked a small smile before tugging on his collar slightly.

Once they reached the hallway that lead to the throne room, Radclyf motioned for the group to stop. Although they were so close to their goal they did end up stopping, knowing if they went in with out a plan then it was likely that they wouldn't be coming out alive. As they did so, Radclyf entered the room and called for two of his fellow guards because 'a few of the guests were getting too rowdy for the remaining guards to handle.' which they bought.

When they reached the doorway they noticed the group and was just about to alert the others when silence fell upon them. With a small smirk Elsys lowered her finger from her lips before firing a bolt into the first guards head while Kerrion struck the other guard with his warhammer in the shin before splitting his skull with it in the next swing. Of course the remaining guards in the room noticed their companions absence not to long afterwards and went to see what had happened to them. Vedmire made quick work of the first one that passed through the door but was also shot with an arrow in the shoulder by one of the remaining guards.

"Lord and Lady Cloudfall, we've got intruders!" The guard that had fired the arrow called to the duo before a bolt grazed his cheek. The guard quickly reached for another arrow and was just about to fire it at the trespassers when a large blast of purple energy hit him from behind.

"Tch, looks like your assumption was correct my dear. Those pathetic wastes of space did turn up. Shall we have a little fun with them before putting them out of their misery?" Nikolai asked with a smug look on his face as he looked at the 'party'. His lover stayed quiet as she approached the hallway, watching in an unamused manner as the human carriage driver, two Goliaths and the Duergar made quick work of the remaining guards while the high elf, two Tieflings and Nikolai's son prepared themselves for whatever would happen next.

"Look what the dragon dragged in, did you two not suffer enough the last time we crossed paths?" Valentina asked with a sinister smile on her lips. Elsys took a deep breath as her nails dug into her free hand's palm, not wanting to think about what she was talking about. Kerrion let out a faint growl at that as well before hearing something click from behind him.

Before anyone realized what was happening a loud bang echoed in the room, Nikolai dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes with a bloody hole on his forehead and in the middle of the room lay Kerrion's arm. The cry of pain that escaped Kerrion was nearly drowned out by Valentina's heart wrenching scream as she looked at her deceased husband laying on the floor beside her. Then a torrent of black energy shot towards the direction of where the shot had came from.

It weaved between the group before slamming into a young man who must have just gotten there a few seconds after the rest of them had. It slammed him into the wall with enough force that it caused him to spit up a little blood upon impact. "I'll kill you all!" Valentina screamed as more dark energy surrounded her almost like a shroud of night. "Starting with you!" She added glancing towards Frederick with eyes full of hatred.

As she raised her hand to cast a spell at the rogue Elsys quickly readied another bolt and shot it into her hand. As the steel bolt pierced her flesh she cried out but still attempted to cast the spell even though it ended up slamming into the wall just behind him. Seeing an opportunity Desmond had snuck closer to Valentina and while she was preparing to attack Frederick again he made his move. While not as agile as the rogue he was lucky enough to just barely graze her throat with his dagger. She stumbled slightly and pressed her free hand to the wound before trying to strike the carriage driver only to miss hitting him.

The young man that had been slammed into the wall carefully steadied himself before raising his gun towards Valentina, black smoke seeming to seep from the barrel as he pulled a mask down over his rather handsome face. "Valentina, you and Nikolai were the ones I was least looking forwards to." He said in a somewhat distorted manner causing Elsys to freeze up slightly.

'Did they wrong him as well?' She thought as more smoke bellowed around him. For a moment she swore she saw something fiendish in the smoke but perhaps it had just been her imagination playing tricks on her. While the man with the gun faced off with Valentina, Desmond grabbed the severed arm before dashing towards Elsys and the rest with a somewhat panicked expression. "We need to go." He told them before glancing towards his 'friend' for a moment. "He'll be fine, I believe in him."

"What is your friend's name?" Void asked with a curious expression.

"It's Percy, I... I don't really know what those two did to him but it could be linked to what happened back home in Whitestone." Desmond replied, motioning for everyone else to leave while carefully holding the severed arm. "I apologize for my friend shooting your arm off, hopefully we can find a way to reattach it somehow."

Kerrion didn't respond to Desmond's comment but he did start moving in the direction he'd motioned towards, holding his bleeding stump with his free hand while Vedmire grabbed Kerrion's warhammer before guiding the others in the same direction. As they ran from the scene of the fight several shots rang out followed by a rather uncomfortable silence that was only broken by the occasional faint whimper from Kerrion as he put a little more pressure on the bleeding stump. "Is the carriage in the same place? We can use it to make a quick get away and then we find a safe place to set up camp so I can see what I can do about reattaching your arm, sir." Ghadath stated as he grabbed the arm from Desmond and glanced back for a moment.

Another shot could be heard and as the group reached the foyer they heard two more. "It should be." Sirron responded before glancing towards Desmond with a thoughtful expression. "Do you know how to drive a carriage? We may need you to assist Goran while we help Sir and Madam Stonefell." Desmond nodded slightly as they continued ahead hearing a final shot before the manner fell quiet except for the sounds of their feet hitting the stone floor.

~~At the Carriage ~~

As Ghadath, Elsys and Frederick all helped Kerrion into the back Desmond glanced at the horses for a second before looking towards the path that him and Percy had came from. While it might not be the most ideal way to go, it would be safer than to go back the way they came and he knew a few places on that particular route that could make for a good place to lay low, heal and rest up. He winced slightly as the larger Goliath stood beside the carriage, giving it a light pat as he watched the others get in. "Alright, everyone is in. I'll walk beside it so it isn't weighed down any further, don't worry I can keep up."

He nodded slightly before carefully cracking the reigns, the horses began to move and so didn't the cart. The path was a little bumpy but it couldn't be helped, each time a bump was hit a whimper escaped Stonefell. "This is a temporary fix till we stop for the night 'dad' so please take a breath and close your eyes." Sirron said with a faint hint of a smile. Kerrion hesitated for a moment before shutting his eyes, as he did this Sirron cast Cute Wounds on him. A faint hiss escaped Kerrion's lips but his arm stump had finally stopped bleeding.

"There, as I said it's a temporary fix but at least you aren't going to bleed to death. I'm sure Madam Elsys will be able to reattach your arm." Sirron said with a small hint of a smile.