You meet Mace and confront Irene, leading to several surprising twists!

"THERE you are, Irene!" you look at the pretty young freckled redhead standing at Mace's side. She's wearing the same shiny blue ankle-length dress as before, showing off a slender, sexy figure to rival your own petite charms. "I thought I might find you here. As you can see," you point to Elena the priestess, who waves awkwardly, "I've found out all about your hidden plans and machinations. Manipulating me into trying to face the mercenary army hired by my GRACIOUS neighbor, so I'd fall into his clutches."

"Don't put the blame on her!" Mace speaks up, taking a step forward. He's fairly young for his position, just like you yourself. He is a little on the slender side, but the tight doublet he wears shows that there is a wiry muscular definition in his chest and abdomen even though he hasn't the broad shoulders of the 'ideal' knight... a runner's physique. His medium-length auburn hair is a little mussed, no doubt from the stress of being besieged and his every plan failing. He steps in front of Irene defensively. "I am the one who your quarrel is with, Countess. I kidnapped Irene when she became separated from you during the Battle of Stolitz Road where the Gaelican swordsmen fought Undrek's militia."

The look Irene is giving him suggests that this is news to her. Mace turns back and gives her a meaningful look. You lean close to your friend Marzena and whisper to her: "So, tell me if you're thinking what I'm thinking - the way he's trying to act all chivalrous is a little disgusting and a little sexy at the same time, right?"

Marzena snickers back conspiratorially. "Oh aye. Gross but in a sexy way is my favorite kind. There's a certain type who comes to the tower that the other girls always think I'm doing them a favor by dealing with so they don't have to touch him, but the pleasure's all mine."

Mace continues. "So my terms are simple. I'll sign my title over to you if you will release Irene and my family to the crownlands... with what little remains of my house's treasury after this war."

"Ha! Oh dear. No no no. This won't do." you laugh and shake your head. "Not the terms, forget about the damned terms. I mean the situation. You are not a proud and dignified noble anymore, Aldergrove. Even now, of all times, you're behaving like it's your duty to make these decisive statements and say how things are going to be. Like you're my husband setting the agenda and I'm to shyly nod and curtsey."

You can tell that your sudden refusal and challenge has taken Mace off guard. He blanches and swallows, looking nervous and infuriated in equal measure. You can tell it chafes him.

"I can see it in your eyes," you say with a smirk, running a hand over your attractive, eye-catching figure in the process of smoothing out a few wrinkles in your latest provocative dress ."You are aching to point your finger at me and say 'Quiet, woman! The men are talking! Do this, do that!' I just know that if I'd brought in one of those brutes who does my killing for pay, you'd be talking straight to him and sparing me nary a glance!"

"I... I'm sorry." his face tightens as he chooses his words carefully. "Undrek, I'm not disrespecting you, alright? But there is just no point in going any further if you will not agree to that. If you won't vouch for the safety of Irene, my mother, and my sister, then you may as well go ahead and have your witches strike me dead, because I'll give you nothing."

Irene steps forward, the petite freckled red-headed girl sneering at you. "She can't make any such demands of you, my lord. And 'lady' Orban! Don't you dare harm Count Mace! You're already a criminal and a renegade, as well as a whore, in the eyes of our king! The king, and other prominent people in the kingdom who your evil actions have angered! So what you have **** but to do is to give me and my lord," she puts her hand on his shoulder reassuringly and grips his arm, "and his family passage to the capital, and perhaps the king will be more lenient when he judges-"

"Shut up! SHUT UP! You disgusting rat!"

You jump at those sudden words. While you don't disapprove of them they weren't from your lips. In fact, the source of those words is quite surprising. Hannah, of all people, is stepping forward from the group. The voluptuous, beautiful young woman's round face, normally so innocent and **** looking, is twisted into a mask of anger. "Irene! You caused all this! All of this fighting, all of this killing! You said you were my friend, pretended to care about me, all so you could manipulate Lady Orban and help this greedy little man wage war and take her city?" All you can do is stare in shock. This is Hannah, who is normally too meek to object to anything anyone tells her to do! Who lets herself be pushed into anything.

"I..." Irene has a look like a hare being dived on by a hawk and she hides behind Mace's shoulder. "I am your friend, Hannah. I wanted to save you from prostitution, that's why I thought, if Zoe was removed..."

"I was comfortable in the tower!" Hannah protests. "No, I didn't like having to go to bed with strange men, but for the first time in my life I didn't have to hide my skills. I had friends who appreciated me for who I was. And even though I was submitted to strangers I was able to protect myself. Because of you, I and several others were roughly set upon by murderous barbarians and used one after another, hour after hour! And because I was days away from my potion ingredients, now I'm carrying one of their bastards inside me!" she grits her teeth in anger. "Without us with her, Zoe would have stayed behind her walls, the mercenaries would have had to return after a brief siege, and this all could have been resolved through diplomacy instead of escalating into this insane bloodbath! I saw hundreds of people die today!"

"Don't blame me for that!" Irene protests weakly. "Countess Orban, she's the one who... I didn't know she was going to send you into battle like that! How could I predict she'd do such a thing? I was just gathering intelligence!"

Mace's eyes widen. "Irene!! No, no! Shhhh!" Thanks to Hannah's surprisingly harsh reaction, Irene has just confessed to something you could have her tortured and imprisoned for.

But before you can take a further step, Rima, the short but full-figured teenage witch with her blue hair done up in two dramatic powderpuff pigtails, raises her hand and shouts in her squeaky high-pitched voice. "FREEZE!" Normally that might be a mere threat, but in this case, thanks to her skill with ice magic, it's more than that. A huge ball of snow and ice crystals is launched from her outstretched hand. You, along with everyone else in the room, flinches back... but Rima's spell was aimed at empty space.

Or so it would seem at first. But the icy ball impacts on something and takes the contours of a human figure. Marzena reacts quickly and raises her own hands, cupping both of them and sending a crackling stream of purplish magical energy at whatever Rima's ice spell struck. There is a feminine cry of distress as someone topples backwards... and something metallic can be heard clattering to the ground. Looking down at it, you see it's a dagger of very fine craftsmanship.

"Stop, stop!" a deep, dignified female voice protests. The voice's owner fades into visibility, covered with clinging snow and frost and looking greatly weakened. The woman is no less beautiful than the many eye-catching ladies already in the room. Her body is thin and lean and her assets match. You would figure her breasts were not much larger than an A-cup and they barely press against the pale blue silken tunic she's wearing. Her hair is long, auburn, and curly, reach down to about her shoulder blades. She has a red velvet cloak around her shoulders and clasped under her chin with a silver pendant and she's wearing a skirt of the same fabric and color of her tunic. Interestingly you notice that her ears are sharply pointed, marking her as more than a mere human.

"Oh Gods." Count Mace says. "This isn't going as planned at all." Irene shares the guilty grimace that the handsome young count wears.

"Ohhhhh my dear Aldergrove!" you say, your heart racing and a wide toothy smile splitting your mouth. "It seems I greatly underestimated you! And here I was assuming that your allies from the Circle of Mages had abandoned you. You were just keeping your trump card close to your chest. An invisible wizardess waiting for me to drop my guard and plunge a knife in my back? I'm flattered." you say flirtatiously.

"Lady Vessa!" Count Mace shouts at the woman sitting on the floor, his voice cracking with desperation. "The agreement was that you'd..." he looks at you and puffs out his chest. "Countess Zoe, I swear on my father's grave, I would never try to have a woman murdered in cold blood. Lady Vessa said she was going to ensorcell you and bring you in front of the King to resolve this."

Lady Vessa shakes the ice off herself but remains sitting, her hands raised in surrender since Marzena and Rima still have their hands trained on her. It's a damn good thing you unlocked your witches' shackles before coming up here. The half-elven mage looks up at Irene. "Plans change." she says flatly, and Irene gulps nervously and half-turns away, looking like she wants to flee the room.

"Crack fucking shot there, Rima." Marzena beams at her fellow dark magician. "I never would've picked that one up until it was too late. When I shared the spellbook with that charm of true seeing and you told me to, what was it... 'take my gifts and shove them up my arse', I thought you'd meant to say you didn't intend to learn the spell, in so many words"

"Yeah, well," the bratty blue-haired with sniffs and scowls at you, "I got a hunch after you told the rest of us about Flora and her succubus summoning that Zoe might actually be a disguised demon. I learned that charm of true seeing to use on her. Turns out I was mistaken, it's totally possible for a human girl to be as much of a rotten, manipulative cunt as she is."

"And yet you saved her life, potentially?" Marzena asks quizzically.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Rima grits her teeth. "I know what these back-stabbing Mage Circle wanna-be inquisitors would do. They'd have us all burned for petty bull-shit reasons. And as much as I hate Zoe, everyone knows her family are a bunch of greedy whores that pimp out their prisoners. I blame the ones who sent me to life in chains just because I studied magic without signing my life over to their little clique." she looks over at you, rage burning in her blue eyes. "Just give me the nod, Zoe, and this knife-ear bitch won't be sitting back up after my next spell, I promise."

"That won't be necessary, dear Rima." you give her an affectionate rub on the shoulder, which she shrugs away. "But I do believe I am in complete control of the situation now."

You look at Lady Vessa, then back to Irene, with a smug glare of superiority, then turn your eyes back to the unexpectedly loyal Rima. "And since you did me such a good turn, if you won't accept any other reward for your service, I'll see about pulling a few strings with the grand magistrate back in the capital and see about getting you released from your sentence to the Crooked Tower, just like you always wanted. After all, the Circle of Mages won't be able to protest after one of their number's been caught red-handed like this. Who knows what interesting things Lady Vessa there will let slip while she's being tortured?"

Rima sighs and pouts, looking down at her feet, and running a hand down over the impressive tits that strain the tight silk fabric of her low-cut top. She looks less pleased by your nigh-unprecedented offer than you'd expect. "Sure, thanks I guess." she says in a self-pitying tone. "Though," she slides a hand down to her stomach and cringes, "...it's going to have to wait at least another 7 or 8 months. There's an awkward conversation I'd rather avoid with my father."

Hannah's eyes are blazing in fury. "Irene... even now... even this... right in front of my eyes, you were still plotting **** the whole time. I can't believe I ever thought you were my friend." she looks to you, and you see tears in her eyes. "Zoe, when you're thinking of how to punish Irene for this... for this treachery, don't hold back on my account. Actually, if you are looking for ideas, I have a few." She pulls a bright green vial out of the pocket-filled cloak she wears over her shoulders. "Maybe we should see if your beloved Count still wants you in his bed after half your face has been melted off, Irene."

Goodness. You REALLY never expected to see this side of Hannah. Seems she ended up in the Crooked Tower for a reason. Count Mace gets a determined look on his face and steps in front of Irene protectively. "No! She's innocent! She'd never plan such a thing!" He stares at you defiantly. "Zoe... damn it! You started all this! Was this your plan all along?"

You blink and give him a bemused smirk. "*I* started all this? I somehow made you hire armies of foreign savages, send them to trespass on my lands, dispatch spies," you glare at Irene, "to my house, and conspire with self-serving courtiers and the Circle of Mages to depose me, or, failing that, to **** me? I was looking forward to sampling your hospitality before getting down to business, but a narrative THAT audacious I simply have to hear!" You turn to the so-far quiet dwarven scribe who's been standing politely behind you. "Go on, write all this down for posterity."

Count Mace sets his jaw and looks to Lady Vessa and Irene. "...very well." He then turns around and pounds his fist on a nearby door. "Sister! Come out here." The door swings open a bit and a nervous-looking girl with brown hair and strikingly odd eyes of different colors peeks out of it. You've never met her before. The report by Aeson's spy made her out to be some kind of wanton harlot (not that you're in any position to judge) but she looks more shy than anything.

With a pained look on his face, Mace beckons his sister to come out into the room. "I'm sorry but honor demands it. Explain what happened last winter..."