Hear ye! Hear ye!

Britain Under Siege of Full Scale Rebellion! Knights of the Crux Ansata Called To Arms! To Arms! 

Dozens of rioters roamed the streets, and the mysterious kegs located in various areas of Britain had begun to explode. As the Knights of the Crux Ansata gathered in the House of Virtues to await the arrival of their commander, they found themselves besieged by numerous small groups of disgruntled citizens. Forced to defend themselves, the Knights fought back with the help of Sir Hethe Idem. Shortly before Lady Amandin’s arrival, Sir Idem began to speak with the group as a whole “You see now the damage peasants can do when they are unchecked. You think it is the Virtues that keep them in line? It is not.” He looked over the crowd and continued “The Virtues are fine for us. For warriors. For the better sorts… For the peasantry?  No. It is not the Virtues that keep them in line. It is fear.  Fear and blood. Fear, and blood, and fire.” With that comment, Sir Idem vanished.

Upon her arrival, Lady Amandine expressed her sorrow for what had occurred to preserve some sense of security, and her concern that the uprising had graduated to a new level. When asked if we had noticed the mysterious kegs scattered around the city, many acknowledged that they had seen them. Some spoke of how they appeared to have been crafted in Ver Lor Reg, and a few others mentioned how they had witnessed some of these kegs exploding.

“I do not like explosives from their Daemon Queen… Being shipped into our city.”

Visibly angered, Lady Amandine led us to the Royal City where we confronted Queen Zhah about her kin and how the kegs came to rest in Britain. “I was under the impression that we to maintain a positive relationship. I would hate for international relations to… escalate. I am going to Vel Lor Reg, I hope not to find anything that would sour our relationship.” Tensions ran high as Queen Zhah regarded us in silence. “Come. Let’s go to Vel Lor Reg. See what we can gleam.”

In the city of Ver Lor Reg, we encountered a gargoyle by the name of Marisudrol. Although he didn’t speak our language as well as others in the city, he seemed to try his best to answer our questions.  When told of the explosive kegs bearing the mark of the gargoyle city, Marisudrol appeared to be shocked. He quickly told us of the original purpose of the kegs “To tell you that our people had accumulated barrels to help both our peoples to cross the rock slide, into the Exodus region. To be driven by the need to know what was going on there. To know that climbing is limited, to know that flying is as limited.” He explained that the kegs had disappeared, and he was disturbed by their presence in Britain. Lady Amandine demanded to know how the kegs had ended up in the capitol city, and Marisudrol’s response was simple “To tell you that they were very powerful explosives. To not know.  To know only that they vanished, to presume they were stolen. To say we have no reason to harm you, to think we have both been wronged.” It was decided that we would return to Britain and attempt to carefully remove the kegs before they could do any serious damage. Thanking Marisudrol, we went on our way.

“To wish you luck… To be… sorry.” 

Upon our return to Britain, the Crux Ansata spread out to push back the rioters so Lady Amandine could remove the kegs. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before drama began to unfold on the bridge to Castle Blackthorn. A peasant woman stood on the bridge, screaming and crying, a knife in one hand and a young child in her arms. I arrived on the scene to see Lady Amandine and a small group of Knights attempting to talk her down, to spare the child and end this madness. The woman, Mary Sue as she was called, then posed us the difficult question “What if it were one or the other. What if it were the city, or this baby, which would you pick?” How does one answer such a question?  Mary spoke again, her voice rising in anger “Not pleasant is it. To have this city dependent on one like me is it. That’s my name. Mary Sue Nothing, Mary Sue No one!!!”  She continued to speak, voice now quivering slightly “The nobleman who gave me this baby…He did nay care for me. Nor do any of you care for any of us… The Virtues got us oppressed… Beaten… Barbarously used… You all do as we please with us.”

“Ah there she is… The noble Ansata Commander.”

Lady Amandine, who had left in search of Adamu, returned to attempt to continue the negotiations with Mary. Trying a different approach to the situation, she apologized for how she had spoken before, and attempted to explain her view on the rebellion surrounding us “You must understand… Change is hard. You cannot demand it so suddenly.” This only served the further anger Mary, who began screaming and crying “Suddenly? We’ve always been here!!!!! You just ignore us…  You ignore us until we got weapons.” When asked what she wanted, the woman demanded our answer to her earlier question. It appeared we were to lose either way.  A voice in the crowd rose above the others “The baby! The city can be rebuilt!”

“THE CHOICE IS MADE!!!” 

What occurred in the next few moments was almost surreal. Mary tossed the baby at Lady Amandine and without hesitation, set herself on fire. There must have been more kegs behind her, for the explosion that followed was massive, and destroyed a large portion of the bridge. As all this occurred before us, Castle Blackthorn itself was also consumed by flames.

The baby, a young girl, was passed to me with orders to ensure she was raised properly. Lady Amandine then turned to her Knights, and spoke “We must put out these flames… We must destroy these bombs and powder kegs. Or Britain will be a ruin. Please, fan out and take to arms.” With a final declaration “These here are no longer our countrymen. Destroy these Anarchists. To arms!”  the battle truly began.

No mercy was shown to those that rioted, for they had crossed the line this time.  Sir Idem had returned and aided in the fight, mercilessly hacking at those that opposed us. The lifeless bodies of peasants lay strewn over the streets of Britain, their blood staining the cobblestones upon which they rested. The battle seemed almost endless, and for a while, not even the help of the Fellowship seemed to slow them down.

Called to the graveyard, we watched as Lady Amandine set off the explosive kegs one by one. Lancing over at Sir Idem, he appeared to be enjoying things just a bit too much. “I love the smell of explosives in the morning… Smells like victory…” Having then overheard a comment that I had spoken a bit louder than intended, he shot me a rather unsettling look, like a predator sizing up his prey. Thankfully, he was soon distracted by Lady Amandine, who now approached us having finished setting off the kegs.

He introduced himself to our commander as he had done with the rest of us before, yet maintained the usual mysterious and arrogant air that always surrounded him. “I am a lion, among wolves. We hunt the same prey. Sometimes that makes us friends. And sometimes… not.” Even after Sir Idem’s departure, that final comment lingered in the silence. It was Lady Amandine who spurred us back into motion by reminding us of the ongoing situation. “I have a city to save… As do we all.”

As night began to creep up around us, some of the Knights returned to the House of Virtues, only to find Sir Idem, cheerfully wiping blood of his halberd. He gave us one last speech before departing for the final time that night.

“And now, I hope you all see. What happens when there is pure freedom but no order? When there is no fear to keep the people in line. The Virtues are nice. They bind us, and by us I do not mean all the people but US, the nobility, the elite, together. But, for the peasants, for the masses, the Virtues are useless. If they think they have power over themselves, they will use it. We need to remind them just how powerless they are. Perhaps one day you will all be worthy to join the Fellowship… For now, the Crux Ansata will have to do for you…”

How much longer can we maintain control…?

Faeryl Tyr’athem
Atlantic News Reporter
Knight Major of the Crux Ansata