Ray Heart (Completed/Finished)

[Novama]

Time: 8:10 PM
Day: Monday
Weather: Mostly clear with few clouds and a light cold breeze. Freezing cold.
Those Involved: @Wiggin @slifer @Elvario @Ur Degaton @Skyhunter @TheEccentric @CaptainLiterally @EldridSmith @Nero Kunivas @Valkan @The Last Curse
TooLongDidn'tRead: Kaz is prison bonding, Kyrian and Thorne are in a predicament, Everyone else is getting arrested in the tavern

Note From The Author: (Knights are in full plate and generally impervious to mundane attacks. Can single handedly take care of half a dozen mercantile without issue. )
Post Listening:

Cringing Cockatrice

Before Yeothal could respond, everyone at the table was momentarily blinded by a flash of light. Solomon's efforts to cast off the effects of the spell were successful, but Verity's spell persisted requiring more effort than original conceived. Fully aware and awake, Solomon would realize the flash of light would prompt unwanted questions from his gang accomplices. Regardless of whether or not his visual disguise still held, he seemed to know more about Verity than an outsider bum such as who he claimed to be should know. It seemed Solomon was not alone in having sudden revelations. Yeothal was also much more with it and no longer unable to focus as he straightened up in his seat. Solomon's sudden surge of magic resulted in the other members of the table being roused from their stupor as well. Some reached under the table, presumably for weapons.

However, before anyone could do anything too hasty, the doors on the front and back of the tavern would get blasted off their hinges into the common room as knights surged into the establishment. Of the men to suddenly enter in a chorus of clanking metal, one was a captain that would declare in a loud, clear voice that even those still in a magical stupor could hear,

"Everyone present in this establishment are under arrest for plotting treasonous acts against Ray City, including, but not limited to, attempted homicide of the city nobility, theft, wanton violence, and..."

The captain looks to the missing ceiling for a moment,

"...destruction of property. Any attempts to resist will be met with force."

After the captain concluded, he gestured with his hand and the knights swarmed: ripping patrons from chairs to the ground, placing manacles on them, and immediately executing any that so much as raised a hand in protest. Fortunately, most of the men were still subdued by Verity's magic and did not even realize the situation was turning dire for them. Even Gattas, Kallias, Emanthe, Aramil, wouldn't see much reason for concern as the knights came for them. Gattas would feel a subtle pang at his doors getting blasted in and his family getting arrested, despite the pacifying magic, however.

Verity, Solomon, and Nyxus would likely be the most alarmed and confused in the whole establishment as to why knights started approaching them to try and arrest them as well. There were several dozen of Yeothal's men in the bar and only a couple dozen knights, but they were making quick work of the subdued gangsters. It would not be long before the knights could focus their efforts on those putting up more of a fight.

Ray City Jail

The man in the cell next to Kaz spoke loud again.

"Name's Bob, kid."

Bob then whispered again,

"We are breaking out of here tonight. When you hear a commotion, be ready. I'd find some way to patch up your arm if I were you. Until we get out of here, no one will take care of it for you."

Kaz had little other than what was left of his pants and the dirty blanket to use on his arm. Searing the wound shut with his flames may be an option, but would like cause him to pass out for an unknown amount of time.

While kaz was killing time, a knight came in and walked passed his cell. He opened a cell further down the way saying "it's time" to the inmate before grabbing him roughly. The dirty man struggled mightily to no avail. His fingers clawed at stone until they bled and his teeth bit at the armored hand that held him until they cracked. His screams could be heard long after the door to the cell corridor shut. Suddenly the screams stopped and the quiet that took their place was a foreboding one to any meant to be met by a similar fate.

"Poor coot,"

Bob muttered from his cell as he audibly shifted his resting position.

Rook City Estate

Thorne had no sooner dived into the bush with his plant than the pot shattered. The sapling's roots had a face while the ends of the roots made up arm and leg like appendages. As soon as it was exposed to the evening air, slightly warmed by the magic of the Rook estate property, it screamed in such a high, prolonged pitch that Thorne likely would have died or passed out had he been a normal man. It repeatedly cried to be planted. Thorne could not plant it soon enough. Yesterday would still be too late considering how loud and disturbing the cry was and continued on in much the same way.

Kyrian would be able to witness the spectacle through the iron bars that made up most of the wall in between the stone pillars. Black dust of a magical original seemed to pump out of Kyrian's ears, muffling the sound that may have otherwise harmed him. Whatever this plan creature was, it either needed to get what it demanded or it needed to 'go'. Speaking of going, guards on the inside and outside of the wall started approaching the corner of the estate that Kyrian and Thorne were in. What they said was drowned out by the screaming plant, but they were clearly being seen as in cahoots with one another and likely posing some sort of threat to the estate.

 

[Skyhunter]

Kaz smiled a little when it was mentioned they would escape tonight, he wouldn't be here long it seemed, but he sighed quietly at the mention of having to wait until they escaped, but what was he to expect? They were in this stone cage after all. " Nice to meet you Bob. Hopefully we become friends after this. " He said naively while he looked to his pants and blanket before using his good/burnt hand, depending on how you looked it since he couldn't really feel with the burnt arm and hand anyways thanks to a accident that happened when he was very young. He struggled to rip a piece of his pant off but eventually got a long enough strip to, using teeth and his good/burnt arm, again however you looked at it, he was able to wrap the cloth around the wound tightly, despite the faint pain, since he was pretty tolerant with pain.

Although it was getting cold, he sighed and took the blanket off his back and looked at it, using both hands now when he saw a hole in the center of the blanket he ripped a bigger hole into it before donning it like a Pancho, pretty proud of his ugly and smell poncho, he tucked it into his pants to keep warmth in. At that time he saw a knight walk by, Kaz grew curious so he stood up, still wobbly. He moved to the cell door to try and peek out little he could, seeing the Knight enter and... Those screams.

Kaz was reminded of a night... a terrible night... He immediately walked away to where he sat and placed his bottom down, he took deep breaths to calm himself. Having both hands together to comfort himself, thinking of that night. Once it said and done, Kaz clenched his teeth together and breathed shaky ones. His red glowed dimly in the dark stone prison he was stuck in, anger and rage boiled inside him. When the time came to escape, he would be ready, he wanted to kill these knights for sure now, he wanted to spill blood. His anger would help with that hopefully. But hopefully not blind him like last time in the tavern.

 

[Elvario]

Verity
​

Interactions: Solomon @Ur Degaton | Aramil @Valkan | Emanthe @EldridSmith

Verity's ears twitched just a little when the old fart started interrupting her progress. She was about to be introduced to whomever was orchestrating things behind this entire scheme, or at least to someone who'd know them, but of course the old man... A flash of light interrupted her train of thought, but also made her realise she might not be dealing with a random old man after all. That'd definitely explain some oddities in his emotions and behaviour. If anything, being an old man among these thugs was already suspicious enough on its own.

A sly grin adorned her face, as she decided to push things just a little bit. Considering she spotted some dangerous movements of those around them, she'd fall back on her initial proposal. "An old man such as yourself surely shouldn't be worried about such things, as it would just made your wary brain all the more likely to give out on you. No, I'm only here to make sure our common friend here doesn't mysteriously disappear before I've learned anything. They're just tools being used, I'm after whomever is using them."

She clicked her tongue at the arrival of her fellow knights. Their timing was surely awful. She figured she'd fully let go of her magic upon their entrance, even promoting a feeling of urgency in Emanthe and Aramil to get them out of their stupor a little quicker. She was, however, completely confused when the knights also attempt to arrest her, so she turned to the captain. "Who gave you the order?"

A lingering suspicion grew. As an internal investigator, she knew this type of trick. Knights or nobles that wanted to cover their own tracks were all-to-eager to get the people they used arrested and hung. However, making such a thing work out often required someone to be in a considerably high position among either nobles or knights. In a good case, these were just overachievers trying to aim for quick justice and overextending their limits, which meant things would be settled later. In a bad case, these were sent to purposefully bury this investigation and could even get her in trouble.

She turned to Aramil and Emanthe, who'd hopefully be on full alert by now. "It seems our esteemed colleagues jumped the gun a little, denying us the opportunity to find out who was he mastermind." There was a clear hint of condescension towards the rushed-in knights in her voice, but she was far smarter than to resist being arrested. If anything, she cooperated with that part flawlessly, as she wasn't a fighter in the slightest and didn't want to risk getting hurt over this. It's only her tongue that was venomous and rebellious.

 

[EldridSmith]

Verity was doing a good job of getting information, and the threat seemed minimal at the moment so Emanthe was fine pretending to be asleep still. However he stood up as soon as the knights burst into the room out of preparation for a sudden fight, though he relaxed when he saw they were fellow knights here to take away Yeothal and his men, though it did mean Verity's information gathering would be interrupted, she could just dig some of the information from the head of the man. However his relief quickly waned as the knights came for them as well. Verity began to question the captain, and Emanthe moved over to Verity in case things went sideways. She turned to himself and Aramil and stated how the knights jumping of the gun cost them the chance to find the mastermind.

"If you do have orders and warrants for our arrests I would like to see them and verify them as an official member of the department of records. If you do not have those and insist upon arresting us I will have plenty of paperwork for you back at headquarters, and we don't want that now do we?" He stated with a sinister grin, he was doing his job to help others in the order and he was NOT about to let someone get him into trouble with his spotless record. "The three of us have only been here a few minutes, so if you want to incriminate us with association you will need a lot of evidence, which isn't possible due to the fact we've only recently arrived. Verity was about to get vital information for a mission given to her, but now that's been ruined by your sudden appearance. Do you know how much more paperwork will need to be done now?" Emanthe declared calmly but sternly, like an old librarian you don't want to piss off as he pulled out one of his journals and began writing down everything that occurred since their arrival at the tavern area, just in case he would need to call upon a stranger here in the court of law he made sure to mark down all the witnesses.

 

[The Last Curse]

​

Nyxus slightly cocked his head to the head; it seemed that the little argument he walked into was starting to get heated. Before his entry, he noticed that the group of people in front were in some sort of conversation. He initially passed it off as typical bar banter: aboveground taverns tend to be more rambunctious, but the longer he sat there, the more he started to realize that something was going on. From the strange lethargic nature of some of the patrons and the palpable feeling of tension in the air, Nyxus figured he joined at a bad time. A very bad time.

Still having his previous question gone unanswered, Nyxus raised his hand in query. No words were able to escape his mouth before a sudden bright flash of light assaulted his eyes. Instinctively, he raised his arms to cover his face, hissing a curse in his native tongue. His bloodline of subterranean dracokin granted him no boon here; the harsh light sent a burning sensation through his eyes, the pain slowly subsiding only to be replaced by a dull throbbing ache. Nyxus groaned as he lifted his hands to rub away the pain in his eyes to no avail. Through blurred vision, he attempted to face the source of the flash, but it seemed that he was facing nowhere near where it originated from. Regardless, the irritation was evident in his voice,

Nyxus continued to rub his eyes, occasionally stopping to see if his vision returned, "What was that for?!" He called out to no one in particular.

Things would only get even more bewildering for poor Nyxus. As his vision slowly started to return, he heard a loud crash from both ends of the tavern, he watched dumbfoundedly as several knights rushed into the room and started to apprehend several bar patrons - his confusion was not eased one iota by the captain's words. As more knights started to pour into the room, Nyxus raised his hands in surrender, attempting to make himself look as harmless as possible. "Theft? Treason?" He repeated in an incredulous tone, "I've barely been in this city, much less this bar. I've got nothing to do with this!"

It hasn't even been a week and Nyxus was already in trouble, worse, for crimes he did not commit. From the foul-mouthed kobold to the misleading citizens, and now a sudden raid from the authorities: this day all culminated into a mess of frustration and confusion. At that moment, Nyxus started to regret ever coming to this insane city.

 

[Nero Kunivas]

- Kallias Drakos - The Cringing Cockatrice -

Kallias lingered in his forced stupor for a while, unable to clearly hear the words of those who were awake enough to speak, but suddenly, his clarity would be restored...by a flash of light. Eldritch Knights had stormed in, bursting through the tavern door in force, with the Captain taking center stage as it were, reading off a list of charges to everyone present. Kallias couldn't help but squint at this rather absurd situation, as the Knights had no basis nor justification to arrest all present, but now was not the time to put up a fight. Not even Kallias would try to engage heavily armoured Knights to protect his innocence, so he too would surrender, hands behind his head until he was manacled.

He would not keep quiet though: "Well now this is ridiculous. First a madman torches the place, now you're just rubbing salt in the wounds of the Cockatrice! And what was that about treason?!" Kallias was especially incredulous about the overarching theme of their charges, namely that they were all acts of treason, a hefty offense and one Kallias wouldn't be caught dead doing.

Hearing Verity espouse at length in the name of all present was something of a relief, someone here at least knew their rights. "If any of you Knights have sense, you'll hear him out. By the gods, this is an outrage!" He said, gesturing with his head at Verity, before getting rather dramatic, as per usual, regarding the situation again.

Interactions: @EldridSmith

 

[slifer]

Kyrian's face transformed to one filled with alarm as this person just hopped over the fence, like an idiot, during a wedding filled with guards. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? I have no idea what clearly dumb scheme you're doing, but someone's going to see you! No one's going to believe you when you sound guilty as hell! Are you drunk? You don't even sound like you know what you're doing! You're probably being set up!" His voice carried quite far, considering that Kyrian could orate quite well, and had a decent public speaking voice. Though his words soon fell on deaf ears as the figrure ignored him, falling into the bush. Evidently, the man should have listened to him, as a screech seemed to permeate the air.

The magic screech would have hurt him, if not for the black dust that seemed to surround him- a sign that it was Kasm's direct doing that helped him out. From Thorne's expression, the muffled cry was extremely high pitched and painful- and it needed to be stopped.
Kyrian supposed this was Kasm's way of apology. Not that his patron ever truly apologized, but it was the oddly thoughtful moments like this that made Kasm bearable to work with.

The creature waddled towards the gates, still screaming it's head off, when Kyrian caught sight of the size of it's mouth...exactly the size of the chicken he was carrying. Well, he didn't have any other ideas, and from the looks of things, another person with not a single ounce of common sense was going to get him in trouble- judging from the troop of guards that were racing towards them. IF this sort of bullshit misunderstanding kept happening he wasn't going to leave the Church to go outside anymore, because this was becoming excessive- considering the guards had literal goldfish memories.

Kyrian sent a silent apology to Gattas, promising to get the man another chicken, before placing a quick blessing on the animal. He waited until the time was right- as the creature passed by the perfect-sized gap in the bars before jamming the chicken into the banshee/root creature's mouth butt and legs first, using all of his strength to hopefully seal the thing's mouth closed like a wine cork in a bottle- or at the very least muffle the sound with the newly-turned magical chicken. If the blessing didn't work, then at least the chicken might muffle the thing enough for someone else to take care of it. "Do something!" Kyrian screamed at both Thorne and the guards, as he wasn't exactly equipped to burn the the thing where it stood- considering he only had a knife to stab it with, which would do absolutely nothing.

@Wiggin @Novama

 

[Ur Degaton]

Before Solomon could respond to Verity, a bright flash assaulted the eyes of all who were unfortunate enough to see it. He could hear a crashing noise, followed by countless footsteps entering the tavern. As his eyes healed from the flash, he saw who the intruders were, eldritch knights. And they just screwed up the entire operation. He was so unbelievably close to unveiling the mystery, only to have a group of sword wielding bureaucratic sheep to get in the way. Maybe there was a good reason why the criminals in this city got away with so much. The knights and the order lacked subtlety, preferring to barge in like troglodytes and shout their intentions for the entire criminal underworld to hear.

Solomon groggily got up from his seat. Keeping his hands on the back of his seat as not to fall like a village drunkard in front of everyone. "You imbeciles!! Y-you stupid goddamn pediculous klazomaniacs!! Do you have any idea how close we were to solving this case!?"

He fought back the rage that threatened to boil over. The timing of the knights was too inconvenient. As if someone tipped them off to this whole ordeal. He could see Verity's slight confusion , so he quickly ruled her out as the culprit. He knew that it wasn't one of Yeothal's men, as they were too stupid and loyal to betray their boss like that. Unless one of them wasn't who they appeared to be. Regardless, something didn't seem right. The knights would have no reason to storm this place if they weren't tipped off by someone.

Solomon shook his head as the dizziness instilled by Verity's accursed mind magic had yet to fully wear off. He dispelled his disguise and glared at the commanding knight. "If you do not explain to me why you whoresons interrupted my undercover operation, and why you do not have warrants. I will assume you are all imposters and slay you where you stand."

It wasn't the first time mercenaries and assassins have impersonated knights to get to their targets. And while he never exactly told anyone about his operation, it still didn't give them the right to arrest indiscriminately. And he would fight them if they dared to try and arrest him for undisclosed and unspoken reasons.

 

[CaptainLiterally]

Navea allowed Thorne to respond to the priestly man, idly looking around at the wedding guests nearby and wondering how they were supposed to successfully evade their vision. Her foot tapped distractedly on the floor as she envisioned the doom that could be her proximate future. She desperately hoped that Thorne knew what he was-

An ear-splitting, hellish noise sprung up through the air, reaching her ears as a barrage of unearthly screeches. Her hands flew to her ears, yet they barely muffled the noise reverberating from the other side of the wall. In a pitiful attempt to escape it, she stumbled backwards a little too quickly. A potted plant obstructed her path and she landed promptly on her butt. She sat there with her hands still over her ears, and her eyes squeezed shut.

If she had been completely human, she might have been rendered useless to the cries of the whore plant. But something in her DNA allowed her to open her eyes and observe the world. Observe with blurred eyes, yes, but at least she was conscious. She fought desperately through the haze to make sense of the scene before her. A priest, a plant, and a… chicken?

She couldn't fathom the situation in front of her. At least not before the dirt under her fingers on the ground inspired an idea between her two aching ears. Perhaps if she could satisfy the plant, for just a moment…

With the futile hope of a sleepy child begging their parents for five more minutes of sleep, Navea began hastily launching handfuls of previously-potted dirt in the vague direction of the plant.

 

[TheEccentric]

The goblin felt weak in the knees, both from the spell and the sudden stream of knights. His door in tatters, his roof turned ash, and now his patrons and family being apprehended, all these happenings on the same day pushed the goblin further and further to the edge of reason. If not for the vestiges of mind-dampening magic still keeping him subdued, he'd likely already exploded in exasperation and anger. Like the string of a bow being pulled taut, his emotions began a slow boil the more the Knights yammered about the crimes, the arrest, and all that nonsense. Under his own roof, he had let criminals and hooligans push him down a peg. First, Solomon, then Kaz, and now these egg-suckling imbeciles just storm in without annoucement and began arresting his family and his people.

"This be... My tavern... Ya cock-sucking... Shit-sippers... Better give me ah... Good reason not ta clobber y'all... For arresting me's an' me ilk... Even though we done... Nothin'...", slurred speech grinded out of his slow lips, the sense of wakeness returning as he channeled his all. He didn't dare conjure his axe at the moment, his family being around and all, but his words need not be sheathed in a cover of cooperation. The world rang around him in a garble, words hard to understand and combine as sound collapsed against his failing ears. He hoped that the authorities would focus on him instead of his family, whom he communicated with in silence through eyes and expression.

He saw a few familiar faces in the crowd speak up, Knights bashing skulls against other Knights. This caused a withering sensation of confusion and dread to well in him. Although he's not friendly with politics, he's familiar enough to think about betrayals and conflicts of interest. Being caught between two authorities comes with a reason to fear, because at that point, you wouldn't know who to trust. Some of the faces that spoke up made his stomach churn in annoyance, especially Solomon, but he kept his tongue after that earlier outburst. The murder of those who resisted still freshly mark the floor in splatters, after all. He gave Kallias a look of gratitude, though intermixed with trepidation for the young man, seeing how he so blatantly confronted the Knights more than he would dare.

He felt... weakness. Tangible and true.

 

[Valkan]

Aramil Argannon

It appeared they were both on the same boat regarding their previous meeting, so Aramil simply allowed it to slip by. Which was great, he didn't want to rack his head around trying to recall it anymore. As for Emanthe's comment on his nobility felt an inner "called it" coming, his intuition wasn't in the wrong, but he suppressed the impulse. He instead just nodded in approval and delight at the fact he got to skip paperwork for something like this.

"I agree, looking for minerals in a cave sounds way easier" He chuckled amicably. "I'd be glad to have you as partner. Most of the time I work by myself, so some company from a fellow knight sounds nice..." His thoughts started to drift away as Verity's magic truly kicked in, he tried to counter it, but Quighal didn't seem to consider it necessary, so he fought the mighty mental influence by himself. He managed to keep himself in a half-awake state. Seeing as Emanthe motioned him to play along, he slowly slumped over, discreetly looking towards the main thugs' table from under his hat. He kept his full focus on Verity, maybe it would awake him if she were to be in danger and she needed their assistance.

As if he had a working precognition, suddenly some knights blasted into the scene, jolting Aramil fully awake due to the sense of danger the words of the knight sent into his subconscious mind. He felt Verity's call to action, and moved along closer to her with Emanthe. However, he remained silent. Words weren't his strong suit, instead, he paid close attention to the surrounding area and took note of what both Verity and Emanthe had to say to these knights. Hopefully his own skillset wouldn't be needed to settle this, but he was ready to protect them both.

A detail he managed to notice as he scanned the situation was that there seemed to be an undercover knight among the thugs, the one Verity seemed to be particularly unaffected by her spell, unlike Verity and Emanthe, he took a more aggressive approach. Were he to be by himself, he may have backed the undercover knight up, but his priority now was protecting Verity, as he had promised. And a non-violent take on the threat of these brutes. attempted homicide of the city nobility, theft and wanton violence? What a joke, he had literally been inside the walls for no longer than a few hours. This reeked.

 

[Wiggin]

\/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/
Thorne Glowbrew
/\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/\​

Well this was an unexpected turn of events. The plant was screaming, not that it could do much to thorne due to him having non-existent eardrums. He tuned back into the situation upon realizing the creature was attracting guards. Eventually he processed what the priestly man had shouted, and had stuck his hands through the bars in the walls to try and plug the plant's mouth up. "The only difference between a dumb scheme and a smart scheme is pulling it off!" Thorne attempted to shout, possibly drowned out by the plant's screams. He then attempted to swat the chicken away. Thorne needed as much stuff drawn away from him, and it seemed like this plant's screaming was doing a good job of that, albeit, the only thing it wasn't keeping away was attention.

Eh, whatever, everything had been off the rails since he got attacked by assassins, what more could go wrong? Thorne placed his hands over the plant, and tried to suck up the dirt around him and teleport it into his hands to have it eventually cover the thing. He was gonna smother this thing, and he was gonna do it hard. "Also, I'm very drunk! The drunkest drunk to ever drunk!" Thorne shouted again into nothingness.

 

[Elvario]

Verity
​

Interactions: Solomon @Ur Degaton

Emanthe made quite the speech. It was probably enough to make them doubt for a moment, but it wasn't likely it'd convince them to change their course of actions. The not entirely unexpected reveal of the old geezer ruining her plans being Solomon was followed by him loosing his temper. Verity sighed. She was equally frustrated, but knew better than to make a fool of herself. If anything, she felt like she needed to interfere, before this would take a turn for the worse.

As before, she used her magic in an attempt to calm everyone down, Solomon in particular, and spoke up. "Alright, alright, let's all calm down. We wouldn't want to damage what's left of this fine establishment even further, nor would we want to cause any unnecessary bloodshed. Let's just check the warrant and all come along peacefully, if it checks out. It shouldn't be long for most of us to get our stories checked. I can even share my own memories directly with whomever is on this case, to speed up the process. It's by far the least inconvenient way to solve this, that much I can assure."

She then turned to the captain, after making sure she wasn't within weapon's reach of Yeothal or his goons. "We were trying to figure out who hired mister Yeothal and his gang over here. We were pretty close, as their employer was supposed to meet them here, but your arrival will have scared them off. The timing of it was extremely inconvenient, almost suspiciously so, so forgive our colleague for being a bit on edge. You're correct that they're involved in attempted homicide, although I'm not sure about the theft. The one that caused most of the destruction here should have already been captured, to my knowledge at least."

 

[Ur Degaton]

Solomon calmed down a little at Verity's speech, though he still didn't trust the contingent of knights trying to arrest them. For now he decided to put a lid on his rage and follow along with whatever the knights wanted. He didn't consider Verity a friend, but he did trust her as a knight and professional.

"Let's get this bullshit over with, this case is making a weary and I'm half tempted to just drop it all together."

Hopefully the brass wouldn't be hard on him. This better not be related to the scene he made in the tavern a couple days prior. It's not like he cared all that much for his knights status. But it offered many privileges that benefit a scholar such as himself.

 

[Novama]

Time: 11:30 PM
Day: Monday
Weather: Light snow. Freezing cold.
Those Involved: @Wiggin @slifer @Elvario @Ur Degaton @Skyhunter @TheEccentric @CaptainLiterally @EldridSmith @Nero Kunivas @Valkan @The Last Curse
TooLongDidn'tRead: Everyone except Kyrian, Naeva, and Thorne are in Ray City Jail. The remaining 3 are still at the Rook estate contending with a screaming plant and guards.

Note From The Author: (were gonna do the fight route, but pretty much everyone last minute decided to go along for the right so, here we are)
Post Listening:

Ray City Jail

The jail had changed little as the few hours passed. The temperature did drop and snowflakes started to trickle in through the barred openings in the walls. It was just as smelly, rough, and filthy. The cells were almost all packed now, however.

After flapping the warrant around some more, the knight captain and his men were able to apprehend the knights present in the tavern, many of Yeothal's men, and Gattas and his family. Those with powers deemed to be 'risky' had special manacles equipped which disabled their supernatural abilities while the manacles were on. All those arrested were loaded into a series of wagons parked outside and delivered to the jail where they were processed. The knights were able to give their testimonies to incredulous interrogators who wondered were equal parts amused at their bad luck and incredulous at the risks taken that placed them in the situation to begin with. It turned out the sting operation on the tavern was in response to a tip received earlier in the day. Scouts verified Yeothal's men frequenting the place. The knights also happening to frequent the place after being spotted at the Museum the night before prior to knights showing up at the alarm was also suspicious. Most of them gave verifiable stories that would only take a bit of time to verify though. It was noted that the involvement of certain knights led directly to the escape of one Yeothal and several of his men. In the meantime, they would be kept in separate holding with the other knights' cells.

Gattas and his family were given their own cell, but the 8 foot wide cage was still on the small side with his whole brood present. He was questioned extensively on his current and prior associations and how aware he was that the Cringing Cockatrice was being used as a meeting point for various and sundry illegal parties and activities. How long they intended to keep Gattas and his family locked up was unclear, but it seemed apparent they thought Gattas guilty of something. Gattas also learned that the conflict resulting towards the end of the raid allowed another fire to start. The Cringing Cockatrice was no more.

Nyxus and Kallias didn't appear to have any connection to the Yeothal gang and had verifiable stories for the dates and times they were questioned on. They would likely spend some time in jail, but no charges were officially brought against them other than the warrant from earlier which they will clear themselves of once stories are checked. At least, that was assuming they would be given the appropriate treatment. With dozens of arrested individuals to go through as part of the Yeothal Arrest, it could actually take days to verify some of the information. One extra reason to worry was presented when the interrogators started offering leniency if they turned on members of the gang. They would get less time or to walk free if they could provide sufficient evidence of involvement and guilt for any other person that was arrested that night. What's more was it was a standing offer. It was not hard to imagine other members of the arrest got the same deal and if they started talking and saying things, lying or otherwise, that painted them in a poor light, they may be stuck behind bars even longer waiting for it all to get sorted. After their individual questionings, Nyxus and Kallias would be dumped in cell with Poncho Kaz the Smelly.

"Hope you boys are ready. It's about that time."

Prisoner Bob says out loud, no longer being coy or quiet about the bust that's about to go down. Suddenly, a rumbling tremor could be felt through the stony floor beneath everyone's feet in the cell block. Stones began to fall away, swallowed by sand and dirt. Entire cells started losing their floors as a whirlpool of earth opened up and a mixture of emotions erupted from the inmates caught up in the flood of liquified ground that disappeared down the swirling dark hole. One cell at a time started getting consumed in a similar way.

"Don't be afraid, boys. This is our ticket outa here!"

He cried as he dove into the whirlpool and disappeared into darkness. The floor of Kaz, Nyxus, and Kallias's cell gave way like the rest. Other than the uneven stone walls that lose their foundation and questionable bars, there was little else to hold onto. The whirlpool of earth did not grow large enough to consume Gattas's or the Knights' cells but the broken ground did cause cell doors to pop ajar making escape possible for those who wished it.

The Knight keeping watch of the prisoners did not stay idle, however, once they became aware of the jail break, they immediately started calling for reinforcements and knights with powers that may stop the destruction to the jail. A couple knights fell into the whirlpool unwittingly and were never seen again. Anyone who still had their jail cell intact or who had yet to escape would be threatened that attempting to escape would be met with harsh punishment.

Rook City Estate

Thorne was still holding the screaming plant that was now coated in dirt. Although muffled, it was still screaming.

"PLANT ME!"

Meanwhile, the estate guards that had zeroed in on the screaming plant surrounded Thorne in a semi circle that put his back to the wrought iron fencing. Their weapons were drawn and they were shouting at Thorne although they were in contest with each other and the plant for being heard and understood. The pandemonium was building to a fever pitch. Several guests had sobered up another to totter over to the scene and gawk at their leisure. Thorne would need to do something or be assaulted by the guards.

On the other side of the fencing, Kyrian and Naeva were being encouraged to clear out by the couple of guards out there. For their own safety and to prove they had nothing to do with this, they were told it was in their best interests to leave without discussion. The cold snow coming down now melted in middair over the Rook estate but started to collect bizarrely on Kyrian's head. Naeva would also begin to feel the chill and an eerie feeling she couldn't quite put her feeling on.

 

[Skyhunter]

Kaz watched as several guards walked on by, carrying different prisoners by, he got up seeing a couple of recognizable faces slowly about to make his way over to the door when his door opened and he backed up to the wall, in being pushed in was a lizard man and that- *gasp* that Blood Mage! " By the spine of the Blood Emperor... " Kaz stared at the two in front of him " A big lizard with fingers and the thing that should not be. " Kaz was in disbelief, again, the shamans in his tribe were all females and only females used blood magic, they never fought so he didn't even see blood magic as a weapon only as a healing process. That being said Males never had the ability to use blood magic, only their fire magics.

After a couple of moments when he saw Kallias and Nyxus, he heard the prisoner next to him, Bob, yell that the time was now and they were getting out. Kaz lunged at Kallias and landed on top of him, while he wanted to learn from the Blood mage, Kaz wanted a little hit of payback, this damn mage got him locked up, Kaz wasn't angry at the moment, he felt like it was deserved and only he could deliver that beat down, landing on Kallias, Kaz began to wail on the blood mage, using his left arm to attack, clenching his fist and hammering down on Kallias as much as he could just as the floor gave out and what looked like a sand spiral took the three. Kaz released the Blood mage and they all fell on through.

Kaz chuckled then laughed as they fell through this strange portal. Kaz would then land on his feet in the sewers once again, landing in a wide stance as gross water splashed around his feet. Kaz smelled the air and looked up " Oh no. Here we go again. " the tombs once again... Kaz stood up straight and looked on all around his surroundings, cautious now. Where are the rats at? He turned around to see that Lizard man! " You there! Strange reptile man. This is the sewers. " Obviously. " There are rats here! And they're big! " Again, obviously. " Are we going to fight or we friends? " He asked in a pretty straight forward manner, although in his state he didn't look like he could fight much, his good arm looked pretty messed up with a deep gash in it and his other arm was burnt like a well cooked body coming out of a furnace.

Mentions: @Nero Kunivas @The Last Curse

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: @Skyhunter @Nero Kunivas
​

Nyxus couldn't believe it. All in the span of a few hours, he entered a city he knew nothing about, was led astray by its denizens before finally finding what he was looking for, only to be arrested and jailed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately, he wasn't pressed with the false charges of murder and thievery, though he still had to serve time in prison up until proven completely innocent - and it seemed the guards were in no hurry to free anyone. Even worse, the fools had taken both his blade and his ethercaps: now he was rendered completely defenseless. This day couldn't possibly get any worse for him.

Now Nyxus found himself in a small cell with two other prisoners. One was a pale white-headed fellow he had seen in the Cringing Cockatrice beforehand, and the other was a dark-haired man with two different eye colors. Compared to the other sad or borderline insane prisoners here, the two seemed relatively ''fresh'', much to Nyxus' relief. If he had to spend time in a jail cell, it'd better be with folks who weren't mentally or emotionally distraught.

Despite his current situation, the urge to introduce himself did not falter. Nyxus sighed and opened his mouth to greet his fellow inmates, only to be stopped by the sight of the dark-haired man lunging towards the other prisoner. Nyxus stared slack-jawed as the assault occurred in front of him; he wasn't sure what caused this to transpire, but at this point, he was done with it. He gave another exasperated sigh and took a step back, letting the men in front of him have their little brawl - he'd make a proper introduction once they got it all out of their system.

Nyxus would not have to wait long for the fight to end, however. Before he could even react, a terrible tremor shook the ground beneath him and opened up a gaping vortex of earth, sand, and stone. Before he knew it, Nyxus was already descending into the strange whirlpool...

Soon after being swallowed by the vortex, Nyxus ungracefully landed on a cold hard surface, his head aching as he turned to inspect his surroundings. He noticed that he was no longer stuck in that dank and cramped jail cell, but the area around him was still shrouded in thick darkness. As he took a breath, the stench of stagnant water and sulfuric gases assaulted his nostrils. Nyxus finally put the pieces together: the strange whirlpool had brought him to the city's sewer system.

How lovely.

As he got up from the grimy floor, his attention was caught by an unfamiliar voice ahead of him. Looking towards the direction of the noise, Nyxus saw that it was the dark-haired man from before, only this time he noticed the evident wounds on the man's arms. He didn't know if the man got them before or during the trip here, but they looked serious, nonetheless. Though he contemplated healing the man, it would be of no use if he hadn't access to his ethercaps, and what were the odds of some growing in here.

Nyxus ignored the man's warnings as he approached them, "First off, it's not ''strange reptile man'', it's Nyxus. Nyxus Aragon," he stated as he peered at the man's wounds, "Secondly, you don't appear to be in good shape, friend. And lastly..." Nyxus gestured to the space around him, "How in the seven hells did we even get here?!" He yelled aloud. From the long and confusing day he's had, he was at least due a simple explanation.

 

[Elvario]

Verity
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Interactions: Aramil @Valkan | Emanthe @EldridSmith

Saying that Verity was not amused would be an understatement. She'd gotten stuck with Arnold Wilhelm as the interrogator, and whilst she trusted him to attempt to get to the truth, he didn't have any skills that could speed up the process. If only they trusted someone that could read minds and that had worked for them for quite a while. If only they were a little more pragmatic than to put someone with magic focussed on quickly finding the truth behind bars after arresting them in the middle of an investigation.

During her interrogation, she'd brought up just about anything she could think of. She mentioned that the baroness could back-up her story, she explained that she'd decided to meet-up directly with Yeothal because she'd been worried that someone with ties to either the knights or the nobility was involved in hiring the man, she confirmed that she hadn't even met Nyxus and Kallias before, she confirmed she'd asked Aramil and Emanthe to be her back-up and that they were otherwise uninvolved, she mentioned that Gattas had offered to aid her investigation at the start, she mention her presence at the museum was due to her having caught wind of something... She had even offered to share the memories directly to speed up the process, but none of them were brave enough to accept the offer. Finally, she'd mentioned how incredibly suspicious it was for the other knights to get a tip that made her suspicious at the exact moment that she was hot on the tail of whomever had orchestrated this. Surely Arnold would at least take this into consideration, whether he believed it or not, as there was no denying that whomever had hired Yeothal had effectively removed all traces to them and had even shaken off all the knights investigating them by simply having the other knights interfere with the sting operation.

She sighed, addressing Emanthe and Aramil as she got put in a holding cell (with or near them?). "I've been planning to take a few days off, but this wasn't really the type of break I had in mind." The 'break' was suddenly getting a bit more exciting, as a hole in the ground appeared that swallowed some of the other prisoners and knights whole. Whilst Verity herself didn't meet such an earthy fate, the door to the cell she was in was neatly popped ajar. Even so, she wasn't eager to fight her colleagues, so she didn't leave the cell. Instead, she had another offer. "How about you let us help, rather than threatening us? Surely you know that we're not guilty of any of the crimes you arrested us for by now. I don't like seeing colleagues vanish into random holes in the ground, so I'd like to try saving them and get to whomever did this."

 

[Ur Degaton]

Solomon didn't say a word while everyone else was being interrogated. He adopted an emotionless expression throughout his brief incarceration. Before the knights could question him, the earth deformed in most of the other prisoners' cells. Swallowing them in a brown and gray whirlpool of earthen quicksand. He couldn't tell if it was magic, or some other machination, but regardless he was warily curious of the events unfolding around him.

"I second that notion, surely this prison break is of more value than interrogating us. For all we know, this could all be the doing of the mysterious employer of Yeothal's gang."

Solomon was eager to get out of that dirty cell, even though he wasn't there that long. He didn't like not having access to his magic, it made him feel naked and vulnerable, like a royal knight without their suit of armor. A conspiracy was taking place, and this could be the perfect moment to get the authority's attention on the matter. He hoped that whatever had just happened, it would be beneficial to him and his colleagues. And if by some stroke of misfortune he becomes wanted or framed because of these events, he would fight them, his title be damned.

 

[slifer]

Hmm....the chicken clearly had not worked, as the damned plant creature was probably magical. The chicken had been spit out in record timing, which was a shame because he had bought the damned thing. That wasn't his problem now, though it was heartbreaking to watch the chicken run back towards the kitchens and away from him. A quick look over at Thorne brought Kyrian to the realization that the boy was in his own deep shit- and if he did anything to try and help, his own ass would be in jail right with him.

With the chicken gone and Thorne being in trouble, Kyrian turned to Naeva, knowing he could help one person at least- the guards ensuring that he couldn't save the drunk one. What was worrying was that she looked to be in agony, but distance would fix that. "There are too many guards around. I can't get him out of this one, as your friend has too many eyes on him. I can bring you to a safe place, but only if you want to come with me. Before the guards come for you. They're very jumpy these days, and I'm not about to be arrested because a guard thought I was suspicious." Kyrian told her, indicating that they should leave and leave now. If she said yes, Kyrian would help her up and lead her away to his home base- the modest church designated to his lord and savior, Kasm- frustrating the god may be. If not, he would cast a blessing on Naeva and walk quickly away, feeling guilty for not being able to help her but not about to force her to come with him.
@Novama @CaptainLiterally @Wiggin