The Snares Are Set

Alkadabuki returns to Saluma and it's clear she's annoyed. Her job was to kill the new Champion of the Dark and she had spent who knows how long, searching a seemingly endless desert for him. Even her boundless determination was tested by the grueling desert searches and the feeling of hopelessness that followed it. There was no way of knowing if he was even still within the borders of Alms Amour. As she entered the city she thought back to when she had received these orders.

The Saintesses had gathered in the Lux Santus, the most holy church of the Light, called there by Tomoko Sakurai herself, their friend. She was panicked when they arrived and they were all eager to assuage her fears. She told them she had a dream. A truly terrifying monster, one she seemed unable to describe had appeared in Alms Amour. It had devoured the entire country and then spread devouring its way through Mnemaria and Borea before spreading further to the other three continents until it had consumed the entire world. Lux Santus being its final stop. She recounted watching its progress from her bed in the church. She watched it consume each of the other Saintesses until it reached Lux Santus and finally consumed her. She described in vivid detail as it held her with far too many hands and choked the life out of her. When she woke up she knew it was a message from the gods. Something evil was growing in Alms Amour and it needed to be stopped.

She was adamant that all of them should go to Alms Amour and put a stop to this immediately, but they were hesitant. Most of them were very busy, Tomoko herself was needed where she was and... though none of them would admit it, so as not to hurt her feelings, they had doubts about the validity of this dream. During the quest Tomoko would often wake up from horrible nightmares, **** had been a... running theme in her nightmares and though she hadn't had one as far as they knew for some time after the defeat of the Demon King, this sounded a lot like a recurrence of those nightmares. Still in the end Alkadabuki had agreed to journey to Alms Amour since it was close enough to her homeland and check on the situation there.

Tomoko continued to argue that they needed to all go together and ensure this monster was destroyed, but had eventually relented. Alkadabuki had traveled out of her way to the borders of Mnemaria and there she'd learned from Elizabeth that Saluma had fallen. This realization and the idea that Tomoko's dream might have been true had in fact scared her. She had acted almost in a panic, calling her entire Horde and as soon as she could she headed into Alms Amour to learn the truth and hopefully slay this monster. All along concerned that this creature whatever it was might truly be a foe capable of defeating her.

Then she had felt her foe's power on the wall and she was certain he was the one, but that she was lucky, he was not yet powerful enough, what she had not expected was when she finally faced him, he would turn out to be a coward and flee into the desert. She can’t believe this worthless insect had been the cause of Tomoko's and her own fear.

She walks the palace hallways to her temporary room resisting the urge to punch a wall. A punch from her would likely bring the entire place down. She enters her room and lays down on the bed. She hates this bed, it was too... nice for her. She prefers the feel of something solid beneath her like the earth or failing that at least something made of stone or even the steel framed beds in Lux Santus. These flimsy wood beds feel like she can fall at any moment. She hates it. She finds herself thinking back to how things used to be. When she was just a simple Barbarian Warrior. She didn't have to worry about sleeping on fancy beds or being a diplomat, she would spend her days hunting, fighting with rival tribes or hanging out with or sparring with her childhood friend.

She thinks about him, she often thinks about him these days. Whenever she feels down she finds herself remembering simpler times and inevitably her reverie ends with him. She has loved him for so long at this point, she doesn't believe she could ever love someone else. When she had become Queen Alkadabuki she had first thought it was perfect. She finally felt worthy of him, but as time went on, she realized she could never be with him now. Not like this. If she married him he would become King and she loathed the idea of taking his simple life from him and putting him in the same hell she felt trapped in now. Sometimes she wonders if she can just abandon all of it, give up her title and all the responsibilities that come with it.

She knew she can't do that though, the world, her friends and him... they need Queen Alkadabuki to keep them all safe. Her heart aches thinking about him, seeing him, but as long as he is safe she could endure the pain to keep him that way. She closes her eyes, but opens them again quickly when a knock comes at her door.

"Who is it?" She demands and hears Elizabeth speak from the other side of the door.

"Uh... My Queen, I came to inform you of some... events that have occurred in the city while you were absent," she says and Alkadabuki sighs.

"Come on in..." she responds and hears the door open. She looks over at Elizabeth as she enters and quickly sits down in a chair facing the bed.

"My queen. It seems some of your... horde saw fit to hold a public execution of captured enemy soldiers in the city centre, this appears to have upset the leader of the city's guard who interrupted the proceedings and... took into custody the captive soldiers. She has requested that if you intend to execute them, she wishes to speak to you first," Elizabeth explains and Alkadabuki sighs.

"She can keep them in custody and do whatever she wants with them. We're not here to do anything, but wipe out the forces of Darkness and take Alms Amour back for the light. If she thinks it's better to simply keep them in custody then I'll defer to her judgment," Alkadabuki responds in a tired voice and then continues, "if there's nothing else, I'd like to get some sleep, the desert is hot and I spent all day trudging across it searching..." she explains.

"Of course, my Queen! Sleep well," Elizabeth says and hurries to leave, but as she turns another soldier blocks the way, red in the face and clearly excited about something.

"MY QUEEN! A group of monsters are attacking Kia Marun!" he announces, ignoring Elizabeth still standing in his way. Alkadabuki leaps up from her bed.

"An attack, is there any sign of the Dark's Champion?" she asks and the soldier looks nervous.

"Uncertain. There's a large group of monsters though..." the soldier answers and Alkadabuki thinks.

"It's got to be a trap," Elizabeth says and Alkadabuki nods.

"Most likely. If this was an actual attack that they believed they could win, they'd have attacked Saluma directly. However if they're trying to lure me out... then I'll go. I'll crush whatever trap they have planned," Alkadabuki decides. She knows it’s foolish, but she is so tired of this and if blundering into their plan will lure her opponent out, it was worth it.

"I don't think that's a good id-" Elizabeth starts, but Alkadabuki interrupts her.

"Of course it isn't! However, I trust you to handle whatever they might throw at us here while I'm away and besides," she pauses and sighs, "we can't let the people of Kia Marun suffer just because we're afraid of what the opponent might be planning. I refuse to let that pathetic worm think that he can act with impunity! Trap or not I will go and I will slaughter whatever he places in my path," she says and Elizabeth hesitates and then nods.

As Alkadabuki and a small group of her best warriors head out, Cara hides nearby wearing a simple grey cloak. She watches them leave and once they're gone and the activity near the gate has ceased she quickly slips inside. The gate hasn't been rebuilt, though clearly rebuilding attempts are underway, so there is nothing blocking her from entering. She hates the feeling of being back here. She feels a pit in her stomach, an escort had been sent to pick her up, she wondered vaguely if they might still be in the city. Her hand moves, pulling her hood tighter against her skull as she keeps her head down moving through the city. She’s holding off on using her shroud ability until later. She'd need that to get Gitta and hopefully the others out, for now though she has a different skill active.

It’s essentially a simple ward, instead of repelling people, magic or attacks though it wards off attention. It is extremely useful to simply avoid detection, but doing anything that would call attention, ruins it and it doesn't help her pass guards who are required to be attentive. Someone properly willful like Alkadabuki wouldn't even be affected by it and someone magical like Elizabeth might be affected, but would also likely notice its effects which defeats the point. Still it keeps Cara relatively safe while just searching for her goal as long as she is careful.

She tries to remember the layout of Saluma and figure out where it would be best to search. After a few moments of deliberation she heads to the prison. She arrives at the prison entrance and sees there are two guards out front. They aren't city guards, but members of Alkadabuki's horde. She takes a deep breath and approaches the entrance. She knows that they'll notice her once she gets close, so she makes sure she is already prepared. As one of them suddenly notices her and raises his sword, she is already running and with one hand she knocks his sword aside as her other hand slides her dagger across his throat. He falls and his ally turns on her, drawing out his own sword, but he is far too slow and her dagger slashes again and he falls with a sick gurgling noise. She keeps her daggers ready as she enters, but is surprised to find there is no one else on guard.

The prison has a checkpoint inside, but for some reason it isn't in use and she passes through without issue. She shrugs, the barbarians probably don't think too much about defense. From what she understands, Barbarians tend to think mostly about offense, the idea being if you destroy your opponent completely they never have a chance to attack you. She chooses to think that is why the prison is so poorly defended, because the alternative is that there isn't anything here worth defending and if that is the case, Cara was in trouble. She has killed two people and that will be noticed soon. Once the people of the city are on alert her ward will no longer be useful so she doesn't have much time. If Gitta and the others aren't here, she'll have to either give up and flee the city or keep looking while the entire city is trying to find her. She doesn't like either of those options. As she continues deeper into the prison she notices the cells are mostly empty and what cells did have people in them aren't promising. Her spirit is sinking quickly and she freezes as ahead of her a figure appears and stops.

"Well well... Who might you be?" a masculine voice speaks and Cara raises her daggers. The man raises his own weapons, a long one handed sword and a dagger held in his off hand, "alright intruder, we'll dance," he states.

"Rio Maldega, the dragon slayer, right?" Cara greets him as she waits and he grins.

"You've heard of me?" he asks as he carefully approaches, his entire body tensed to spring.

"Yeah... my friend Kasi told me about you," Cara answers and she sees the flash of fear and uncertainty in his eyes and she strikes. He staggers back, deflecting her dagger with his own and responding with a stab towards her chest, which she easily avoids, "yeah you're pretty fast, but you're not nearly fast enough," she taunts as she wraps her arm around his, pinning it against her side forcing it to remain out stretched before sliding her dagger into his side. He yelps and she feels the muscles in his arm move as he tries to reverse his grip on his sword. She steps forward sliding the dagger out of him as he makes a weak attempt to stab the sword into her back, missing as she steps forward, pressing her body right up against his and looking up into his eyes as she drags the dagger up his body stopping with it poised against his throat, both their other hands locked together, dagger to dagger.

"I suppose what we have here is something of a... Impasse..." he admits, his initial attempt at a backstab failed due to her sudden movement, but now his sword was poised at her back and she couldn't move any further forward.

"It would be... If you weren't about to lose consciousness," she admits and he opens his mouth to speak before his body goes slack all at once and she releases his arm as he collapses to the floor, "you're lucky Kasi likes you. The poison will just knock you out for a bit, you won't die... Assuming someone patches up that stab wound of course..." she tells him as he stares up at her, struggling to remain awake, his arms and legs twitching slightly as they receive ****, but fractured signals from his brain.

She starts to step past him, but then stops, "Oh damn... I should have left you awake so I could ask you where Kasi is..." she realizes and sighs, but then turns in surprise as he speaks.

"That crazy bitch and the rest of your friends are in the palace," he says as he gets back up.

"How did you..." she asks and he groans.

"A fun little trait of mine. I'm not immune to toxins, but they wear off quicker than normal and it seems yours wasn't very potent," he explains, "ready for round two?"

She raises her daggers again, the poison has worn off, but that doesn't change the fact he was stabbed and she can see that he's swaying slightly, "you could have stabbed me in the back, I would have," she tells him.

"That's because you're an honourless dog and I'm a dashing hero," he responds.

"I prefer to think of it as being pragmatic," she responds and tosses a dagger at him. He whacks it away with his sword and she immediately follows it up with a stab towards his face with her other dagger which he deflects with his own dagger. Her empty hand pulls a third dagger from her cloak as she slashes it towards his gut, but he steps back the blade passes centimeters from his belly before he suddenly steps forward and whips his foot up, slamming it into her gut. Her eyes widen and she collapses forward onto her knees coughing as he then raises his foot again and slams it into her face, knocking her onto her back.

She groans as she feels him press his foot down on her chest, pinning her down as he bends forward pressing his weight down on her, she slashes at his face, but he knocks the knife away and she feels it slip from her hand and hears it clang against the wall. She bites her lip as she looks up at him. She has more daggers of course, but she realizes there is no way he'll let her grab one while he is focused on her.

Her mind races, she can't lose here, she has plenty of assassin skills, but they all rely on her not being in a situation like this. There is one last trick available to her though one she is loath to use. She draws forth the most hated part of her and shouts, "you dare treat me this way, peasant?! I am Mira Cosmir, daughter of Lord Cosmir! Take your filthy hands off of me!" she commands. It isn't magic or even some kind of skill, not really. Her father has always called it breeding. The peasant class are simply conditioned to recognize nobles and have an instinct trained by generations of societal expectations to obey.

He’s startled and doesn't even try to resist for the moment, stepping back off of her as he instinctively follows her command. He realizes what he’s doing almost immediately, but it’s enough, her legs move, catching his back leg as he is still in the act of stepping back with his front leg and twists. He gasps as he is suddenly falling sideways. He lands hard on the ground and she rolls back onto her feet as he groans and then glances up at her clutching his elbow where he has apparently slammed it hard against the floor.

"what... The hell was that? Some kind of mind control?" he asks and she shakes her head.

"You just know your place, dog," she responds and then steps forward and kicks him hard in the face, knocking him ****.

A bit later Cara is moving through an alleyway in Saluma. She feels awful, using her real name like that makes her feel ill and relying on the power of her bloodline makes her feel even worse. She hates the very concept of nobility, the very fact they can and do simply control the lives of others that way is revolting to her and she can't stomach the idea that she had made use of that power. For now though she needs to push forward, she can deal with her revulsion and horrid feelings once she is finished. The palace is close and she can see it is indeed much more well guarded than the prison had been. Her ward won't help her here, her only choice is to use the shroud now or fight her way inside, she doesn't like either option, but shrouding herself and just hoping she can find Gitta and get her out in less than an hour seems like a slightly better plan than fighting her way through that many guards. She closes her eyes and feels the ability activate, the shadows in the alleyway swirl around her and then she leaves the alleyway, carrying the shadows with her. She isn't invisible like this, but she is silent and difficult to spot as long as she doesn't walk into the light. Slipping behind the guards at the front entrance isn't too difficult, opening the door and slipping inside is a bit more tricky but she manages it.

She has no idea where Gitta is and time is ticking. She moves as quickly as she can without giving herself away, hurrying through the Palace's halls and checking rooms. The guards are wandering the halls, but as long as she is careful they walk past her without even noticing her. Eventually she finds a locked room and she cheers slightly as she hears a familiar voice talking on the other side of the door. A voice she immediately recognizes as Vox.

"So, how are you being burned anyway? Aren't you like immune to fire or something? I swear I remember you saying something like that when you charged Belleza, back in Kia Marun?" Vox asks and Cara can hear Kasi respond.

"Well okay... I'm not immune to fire, but I'm resistant to it. Unfortunately she seemed to realize that after the first day and has been expending more energy to ensure I still burn... I'd almost call it considerate if you know... it wasn't ****," Kasi responds and Cara hears Belleza speak.

"Sorry about... you know slamming you through a floor, by the way," she tells Kasi and Kasi starts to respond, but they all stop speaking as Cara picks the lock and they all hear the lock click. The door opens and Cara enters, seeing the four women bound to chairs and all looking badly burned. The four of them are watching the entrance in a mixture of fear and confusion as they can't see anyone there at first though Cara sees Vox squint and then gasp.

"Cara?! Is that you?!" she asks and Cara closes the door and gets closer before speaking in a whisper.

"Yeah it's me. I was sent to rescue you," she answers and begins to work to free them, starting with Vox and then her and Vox work to free Belleza and Kasi and then they free Gitta.

"I don't know how we're gonna get out of here. I don't know if we can even walk," Belleza says.

"There's something preventing Belleza and I from using our magic so... I can't even try to heal us," Vox explains.

"Well then I have some good news," Cara says as she reaches into her cloak and pulls out a number of potions, "Doom foresaw this problem and sent me with some healing potions," she says and hands one to each of them.

"Oh thank you, Doom!" Kasi says. The others seem a bit more hesitant to praise Doom and Cara understands the sentiment. Once they've all taken a drink the five of them move to the door. The potions didn't fully heal them, but they could at least move now. Cara led the way and glanced outside into the hallway seeing no guards, they moved forward.

In this way they made their way out of the palace, Cara doing her best to stealthily take out any guards in their path and with Kasi's help they both deal with the guards out front. Once they're in the city, it's not too much harder to get to the gate, getting out past the gates is a bit more trouble, but this far from whatever was restricting them, Belleza and Vox have access to their magic again and Vox empowers Kasi who kills a number of guards bare handed, while Cara and Belleza easily take out the rest. Gitta is useless without her weapons and just stays back. After that they make it out of the city and a more immediate problem occurs. With the exception of Kasi who's usually naked anyway and whose body is rugged enough to withstand the harsh desert regardless, the others weren't exactly looking forward to making a trek through the desert naked.

Eventually they arrive at the dungeon, Vox, Gitta and Belleza practically dead on their feet and indeed Belleza collapses onto the ground, but luckily at this point they are close enough and Cara runs in to get Doom who comes out and graciously carries them inside. Ginny manipulates the dungeon to form some simple beds for them and they are given time to rest as Doom, Cara and an unwilling Prithima begin to work on the next part of the plan.