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Angelcynn: The Myrcian Conflict - Act 5


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Sleeping indoors was a welcome enough change, but Claire had still found herself waking rather early. Rather than going back to sleep, she'd instead found Constance already awake, and the events of the previous morning were still fresh in Claire's mind. "Good morning." she began, rather stiffly. "You erm, were around yesterday at the square, weren't you?" Claire was fairly sure that she'd spotted her. "How much did you see...?" Maybe Constance would be able to make more sense out of what happened? If the magic was what Claire thought it might have been, at least.

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"I saw you attacking that maniac from the assylum," Constance said. "Though I was more concerned as to what he was even doing here, rather than observing you. Be careful with that tomeless magic. It's much harder to gauge your magic without one. That's why we use them in the first place. Seems your a natural though. Doubt I could conjure a wind that great without asking Belial for assistance. If you keep practising, you'll be cast'in illusions better than that Morganna girl in no time."

Edited by Jotari
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Suleiman yawned as he stared blankly at the walls,  trying to pass his time. Apart from his talk with the foreigner, his previous day went by uneventfully. He didn't have a good night's sleep to his dismay, waking up early to a cold morning. Walking about in the halls, to his surprise, he saw Angus. "Its that kid who spat on me! What is he doing...is he tending to something?" he muttered to himself.  With little to do, he figured he'd talk to the boy, albeit begrudgingly.

"Oye, lad. You have any idea of when we're leavin'? These walls a borin' to look at, couldn't get some sleep."

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Freya woke rather early. The town of Clapcot had made for a better rest than the other places in their travels, and she was blissfully unaware of many of the party's struggles, at least for a time. Lots of preparations were being made by the Raewalden troops, so she made no exceptions. This coif feels funny. Oh well, it would probably still come in useful.

Donning her armor, she headed over towards the General's tent. Nobody really asked her to, and she probably would be frowned at if she entered directly, but she thought it best to be in the know if at all possible, and where else was a better place to be for information than around there? She couldn't think of anywhere better.

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It had been... how many minutes? Time was lost, the prince in shock, down on knees at the bedroom his sister was supposed to have spent the night. Supposed to. It was still a hard pill to swallow, but Cassandra had left him, one of the people he cared for most, just up and vanished over her personal feelings of inadequacy. Why... why did you feel the need? It wasn't going through Owen's brain as much as she had hoped. Why did she only leave a letter for him to find at dawn?!

"Ugh, damned be, whatever devil sowed those thoughts on my sister, damned they be!" Kicking and moaning wouldn't be heard by his sister, wherever she was, but the prince still allowed himself a punch to the mattress to let out his frustration. "Ridiculous! Stupid!" Twice more, whomever took care of the town hall would not be pleased, but that was a matter to think later. "Hah... why, Cass? Damn it all..." The prince needed more than a moment, his body sinking onto the floor. He'd just lost his sister, it was a terrifying idea to wrap around, his heart beating as cold as the cruelest winter night. Was there anything he could do, at all...?

"...ESCLABOOOOOOORRR!!" The prince shouted, rising on his own feet again in a feet of anger. At least, mostly anger, it was hard to discern the frustration at that point. Quickly, he barged out of Cassandra's room, looking for his vassal. "Tell Nelon and Angus that the princess is amiss. We don't know for how long, but we have to ask the town. Tell those two to scout the surroundings! We can't go too far, but if she hasn't departed at the dead of night, there might still be a chance to spot her!"

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The praise from Constance would have been a welcome, were it not for the circumstances. "That wasn't what I was trying to do though." Claire replied. "All I wanted was a bit of a breeze, enough to make him fall over and humble him in front of the crowd. But what happened instead was, I wasn't in control. Do you remember how it felt, when Malaphar brought you to the world? It was the same. I was fading in and out, it felt like I was falling, and the spell had a mind of its own. Is this... is it supposed to happen?" Could Constance even know? Probably not. But it she knew anything, then Claire had to know it too. 

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Comfort from my friends... and Esclabor

Esclabor approached Owen, looking solemnly at his liege. "Baron Nelon and the Valter Sisters are currently searching the village for her, they said they'd report back if they had any news. It looks like it was well planned, they've packed away everything. They could be miles away by now, nobody's seen them at all." he replied, his expression uncharacteristically considerate. "I'm having trouble finding Sir Duhamel too, things just aren't adding up. No clue what got into their heads, we've known the plan from the beginning."

He let out a sigh, putting a hand on Owen's shoulder. "Your sister might be insane, but she's not going to die without a fight. We have no idea what she was thinking, but we'll have to hope that Graham and his butler will keep her safe. I have a feeling the little scamp went after her. I'll grab Kearney, we'll scour the village until we've turned over every stone. If we don't find her... you might have to accept the truth."


Lonely Heart

As expected, Freya was very much denied entry to the tent, the guards immediately blocking her path. "There'll be a meeting shortly. Wait until you're summoned, being with Prince Owen doesn't grant you special access." one warned, putting his spear across the tent's entrance. "We don't make the rules, we just enforce them."

Nona was stood rather close to the tent, looking around curiously. She appeared more focused than usual, scanning the crowds of soldiers almost one by one. In fact, it took her a good couple of seconds to even notice Freya, eying the guard before relaxing her search. "Oh, Freya? Did Baron Nelon ask you to help look for the Princess too?" she asked, approaching Freya. "It makes sense that she would want to leave, she must have felt trapped by everything. You were around her a lot, did she ever talk about wanting to be free?"

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Constance was startled. "You felt...like Malaphar?" It had been a long time since she'd been brought to Malaphar's world, but she could remember what it was like. A pristine and beautiful landscape, tinged with an unsettling, subtle, evil, like metal on the mouth. "I must say that is worrisome. But, I suppose, not entirely unsurprising. We've known all along that Malaphar summons his world without a tome. I think, in the future, whevenever you want to practise magic without a tome, stick to the illusions. There's small chance of illusion magic growing dangerous." Constance looked concerned and worried. "There's not much in the way of libraries to research out on this frontier. We need to pool our resources together, Claire. We could be closer to understanding the source of Malaphar's power than anyone else in history. I find that both hopeful, and frightening."

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"Haw! Thank th'father, I don't!" The mooncalf sets the sword he was inspecting aside, still grinning to himself. How'd anybody get anything done if you relied on the guy with the bear to tell folks things? "Nah, fellow, I couldn' tell you--bigger hats are seein' to it, but I'm sure it's soon. Everythin's ready for th'Prince's group t'leave, I seen to that! Wish we had a bit more o' this, that, or the other, but how'd it ever be any different?" Something else amused Angus about this stranger too; there was a question he was simply dying to ask.

"Man--how're you not enjoyin' this?!" Angus lifts his hands to his shoulders and gives them a spirited shake, looking back and forth between them as if searching for something. "Lookit here, I'm not swingin' an axe! Or marchin', even! Bein' bored is the best thing that could happen to a guy on campaign, least as I see it."

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Perhaps wheat...isn't boring...That was a nice thought. And the surrounded by crops bit...yeah, there were plenty of interesting people around...probably. Now that he thought about it, Eric realized that, in the...couple weeks?...it had been since...he hadn't taken much time to get aquainted with anybody. Just like back when...I really should do better this time.

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

Eric didn't sleep any better than usual that night. After waking, he stood up, stretched, and spent a minute staring into space. The sentiment from yesterday was still on his mind. I should get to know the people around me.

With a gratuitous flourish of his coattail, Eric left his room and...accidentally smacked his hand against the door. "Ow!"...He slowly shut the door, almost embarrased.

Turning away, Eric wandered down the hallway. His mind was made up. He'd find the first people he even slightly recognized and-oh hey. A couple people were talking. Didn't seem closed off. Eric took a breath, and, with newfound resolve, approached Angus and Suleiman(not that he actually remembered the names), marching himself into the conversation.

"Hey. Morning!"

...That was it. That's all I got. He didn't want to totally derail the conversation(that would be rude), and he hadn't listened to anything in it. Probably shoulda thought that through...Alright. Just wait until you know enough to comment on, then chat it away like you've been here the whooooole time...

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"Eh, I s'pose yer right, lad. 'Tis better than dyin'." he replied,scratching his head. The kid seemed pretty laid back for someone so young fighting in a war. Maybe that was why he lacked manners. Maybe he had a habit of acting before thinking. As Suleiman thought about Angus for a bit, he remembered something else. "Oh, I know. That lance that ye gave me yesterday? I'm done, it didn't take too long. Thought-" he was about to finish, but someone interrupted him. He turned to see...it was him! The Deiran traitor! What was he doing here????

 

"Oye, lad, can't you see that  we're busy here? What do ye want?"he asked irritably. Deirans just made him uncomfortable.

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"It does make sense." Claire agreed, although she didn't look too happy about it. "It all fits together but... Ugh. I don't know what I expected." When she thought back on it, even Malaphar's control over his world seemed imperfect. Claire being able to control something like that on the first try would take a miracle. But still... "Do you really think that illusions are still the way forward?" The small frown on her face let the elder know that she feeling far less certain. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but maybe I'm close to a breakthrough. I would probably need a wider space to practice, which maybe isn't feasible right now, but well..." The mage trailed off, taking a few moments to collect herself. "Am I being too hasty? It just seems wrong to take a step back after this..."

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"Well if not illusions, then what else?" Constance asked. "Malaphar's world is made of something. Making illusions a reality is a good a logic as I can think of. The only other thing I can think of would be warping magic. But if it is that, he's certainly not warping to anywhere on Angelcynn. Either way, I can't see much use in summoning giant whirlwinds or raging infernos. Even Malaphar fights with a tome, unless that's just to avoid attention. Tell me, did you feel that same sense when you set the princess on fire in the church?"

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"H-hey, relax! I didn't do anything! Or at least I'm...mostly certain I didn't do anything!" DID I do anything? "I-I just wanted a friendly chat or somethin', is all!" Caught completely offguard by the confrontational reaction, Eric's hand started to gravitate towards his face. "Y'know, I thought I could, like, get to know some of the people around me or...something. Haven't ever done much of that, figured I'd try."

...It was honest, if nothing else.

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It was... weird to have comforting words coming from Esclabor, of all people. He didn't know the guy that well, but he didn't strike as the supportive type, especially after his 'feats' in Magonsaete, but perhaps that was wrong of him. Esclabor still saw him as the Prince of Wyke, for what it was worth at that moment... that was something the prince dearly missed. "I... Thank you, Esclabor. I hope they find her, but... but I understand what you mean." It was a possibility that she was well beyond their reach, one he didn't want to deal with, but that could be the truth. To hear that Sir Duhamel was also missing was bizarre. Was he friends with his sister? Owen couldn't even tell. I can't imagine another reason, but he's a Raewalden diplomat. How weird...

At this point, there was nothing much he could do but pray that Sebastian could keep her and Graham safe. Unfortunately, that came with its own set of problems. Owen was kind of depending on Sebastian being there to give him the job to oversee suspicious activities during his meeting with King Olaf. A butler trained to Duke Herman's standards was the man for the job, and now Owen would need to find another person suitable for the job, hmm...

No, that was a matter for another day, for now, Owen needed to recollect himself, straightening his posture, the prince exhaled and breathed in deeply, trying to calm the storm of emotions that still brewed. "I will survive. I think. No, I must. I need to complete this mission, so I can save Wyke." What a true mess... "Thank you for mobilizing our nobles so quickly, Esclabor. That I owe you. I should prepare for said meeting with General Tarasque, correct? I beg your pardon, then." Owen would need to look his best, even with these harsh news, if he couldn't make work of these tears welling up in his eyes, he'd look even weaker than what he suspected the Raewalden General saw him as.

Cass, wherever you are, please, don't die. I will find you, once this war is over.

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"Mmm..."

Sidney was late to wake. It wasn't until she heard some rather loud shouting that she scrambled up out of her bed, calming down when it was evident that there wasn't any danger, at least not immediately. She got dressed and ready for the day at a more leisurely pace than she would've if there was clearly a problem, but still brought all her equipment as a precaution. Worst that happens is I'm dragging around a few extra things. Finishing smoothing out her hair, she left her room of the hall- outside it sure seemed like the Raewalden soldiers were getting ready, at least for something. She only saw two people she knew left in the hall, one of whom she liked significantly more. "Morning, Prince Owen... er, and you, Baron... Thomas. What's happening out there? You, ah, you don't look too well, Prince."

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Suleiman squinted at Eric's face, annoyed by the boy's behavior. What was this kid doing in the army? "So ya couldn't get some sleep, eh? What do ya want to know about me, boy? How I lost all of my hair?" Suleiman scoffed, not amused by expression on Eric's face. Deciding that it was better to chat with the kid to pass the time, even if he didn't like him, Suleiman sat down against the wall, folding one knee while extending the other leg. "What's yer name? Did anythin' fancy here, yesterday?"

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"Ah? Oh, Sidney..." What a moment to show up. Would it be wise to give her the news right now? ...There was no reason not to, as uncomfortable as it felt to linger on that topic. "My sister is missing, and apparently she had others leave with her. We don't know where she plans to go, but I'm concerned for her. All she left was a letter." Holding back a grimace, the prince couldn't help but look down to the floor. "We're already hosting a search for her at our surroundings, I can only hope it turns up anything at all."

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Eric calmed down a little bit. Baldy here didn't sound like he was about to threaten him anymore, so...His hand went back down to his side.

"No, that's not what I wanted to talk about, I assure you. If we're being completely honest...I hadn't thought that far ahead." Eric let out an awkward chuckle. "But, uh, I'm Eric. And I can't say I did much. Just talked with a priest about vegetables. You?"

...Not bad. Not great, not bad. Eric waved his hand, at hip level, horizontally a little. Just a little. Didn't want to exclude anyone, now.

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Suleiman shook his head in disappointment. This guy had no clue of what he was doing. Maybe all Deirans were the same, having no idea of what they were doing with their lives. "Ya can call me Suleiman, boy. There ain't much to do in this village. I just met some man from a far away place. He asked me this question, so I s'pose I'll  ask ya the same. Whaddya think o' the women in this place? Better than where ya come from?" 

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Of course she wasn't let in. It didn't seem worth arguing, and sticking around idly probably would just be a waste of time. She didn't notice Nona until the pegasus knight addressed her, either. "Lady Nona? The princess?" I never get to know anything. "No, that's the first I've heard of Cass going anywhere, from her or anyone else... So she just got up and left overnight? What's she thinking, doing that in a middle of a war, she could get herself killed..."

Freya sure would have things a lot easier if she could always tell what Cass was thinking. But instead, she did not, and instead was just as frustrated with the situation as anyone else.

Edited by Juliette
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Late Morning of 15th May 812 - Tarasque's Tent

Owen and his people had been called for a meeting in Tarasque's tent, the largest and grandest tent in the sea of them surrounding Clapcot. The gathering wasn't particularly large, very few of Tarasque's men were actually present. A few senior looking soldiers, along with the foreigner that Suleiman had met from before. A large wooden table stood in the centre of the tent, dominating the interior. Maps and charts were spread across it, with masses of handwriting and corrections littering the sheets. Tarasque was stood at the far end of the tent, raising a hand to silence her men.

Tarasque approached the table, her arms folded behind her back. She scanned Owen's group with her solitary eye, her stoic exterior hiding the contents of her thoughts. "Some of you are not present, but that doesn't matter." she remarked, uncaring to Cass' absence. She put her hands down on the table firmly, leaning forwards over her maps. "We've received some important information recently. Deira's Justice Friends are operating in the area, sources say that they've separated to handle individual tasks. They have both an explosives expert and a powerful magic user defending two villages to our east. Taking on both would divide our forces, but I'm not particularly keen on taking detours fighting them one at a time. One of our soldiers here, Pierre de la Pain, has some familiarity with explosives. I don't know how, but Deira is a step ahead of us now in terms of ballistics, but de la Pain has informed me that they've managed to refine them down so a single individual can carry them."

Naturally, it was unlikely to be a surprise for much of the group. Wyke had been well aware of the technology Toulouse, and now Deira, possessed.

"If we can pass through, we'll be able to approach the Deiran border." she added, pointing to a section of the map. "After that we will press forwards to claim the Deiran capital. The losses will be high, we need to reclaim Wyke before we force a surrender or a truce. Are there any questions? We need every advantage we can get."

Everyone is free to post!

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It wasn't long before Owen's group was called for the meeting, and Suleiman was relieved. He had had enough of waiting around doing nothing but talking to the stupid Deiran boy. He silently listened as General Tarasque spoke about the enemies in the vicinity. The mention of the Justice Friends angered Suleiman, and, clapping his hand on to Eric's shoulder, he muttered to him, "Hear that, boy? Those Justice Freaks have been causing a ruckus over here! They're the ones who saved that cocky fool earlier! I've been waiting to get my hands on them, hehehe."

The mention of explosives piqued Sulieman's interest. Were they more like the contraption that his father showed him and talked about many years ago? His father had always told him of Toulouse's isolationist policies, so why did the Deirans have the technology now? Was it just mere mercenaries, or did the Toulouse royalty have a change of heart?  There were things he needed to learn...not for himself, but in the honor of his father.

He slowly walked towards the foreigner that he had talked to yesterday. The things that Tarasque talked about, that was the Prince's business. He wanted to know more from Pierre.

"Monsieur Pain, we meet again! From ze looks of it, we're in for ze rough right, I think." he said, hoping to draw his attention away from what was happening. 

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"Cass? Oh, no..." Sidney's heart sunk- she knew the two siblings didn't always agree with each other, but it had gotten so bad that Cass went out on her own? She gave him a brief hug and a pat on the shoulder. "All we can do is hope, I guess... Leaving here in the middle of a warzone, when Deira could possibly attack at any time, I can't help wondering what's going through her head- bringing others, too. I..." Sidney cut herself off from going any further- it would probably only make Owen be more upset if she mentioned Deira would try just capturing her instead of worse possibilities. "I hope she's alright too."

...

Sidney didn't think she liked Tarasque all that much.

She'd not seen the General terribly often before, but dismissing the princess's absence immediately felt like a bad way to start off, at least to her. The thought of fighting against explosive-wielders didn't inspire her very much, thinking back to the Magonsaete shores and her rather close call with one of them the first time she saw such a weapon. "Would magic not be easier? It's a known quantity, at the very least..."

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"I did not." Claire confirmed with a frown. Did she really just ask that? I guess it was similar, but... They were definitely different. "I suppose you're right though, about the illusions. Let's keep going." Cass was bound to come and interrupt her soon for some reason or another.

---

Cass' absence at the meeting confused Claire, especially after having not seen her all morning. I'll have to ask about it. That came later though, first they had to decide what to do. "Is their leader the only explosive user?" Claire certainly hoped so, considering the Justice Friend she'd seen carrying those explosives looked foolish enough to blow himself up, which would certainly somewhat resolve the issue.

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