Zero Hour

[Bjorn]

"Thank you, Jeff, Carl," Bjorn says, coming to the door.  Looking somewhat coldly at the Lorekeeper, he asks, "Who are you, Master, and what is the emergency?"

[Rezantis]

Rez shifts uneasily, putting a hand on the hilt of his blade and straightening up from his slouch.

[Brian]

The Lorekeeper straightens up, and the vassals nod at Bjorn.  "I am Serril Dewer," he says.  "Radagast asked me to find a healer, but Mistress Lindsey is gone -- I don't know where, and her vassals are frantic to find her.  There was ... there was a fight in the tower.  Gatemaster Eske and Loremaster Radagast were injured."

Carl and Jeff raise eyebrows at this, but don't let go of Serril.  "If there are injured, then I can help," Mirallia says.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn raises an eyebrow at Serril's introduction before he can stop himself.  "If there's been a fight," he says coolly, "then we have no time to waste.  Madame Mirallia, would you gather what you need?  Carl, find Lord Kevin, make sure he knows, then join us at the tower.  Jeff, Sir Shuker, Alex -- we will escort Master Serril and Mirallia to the tower."

[Rezantis]

Rez makes disgusted noise, but nods and stands up, ready to follow Bjorn.

[Brian]

"I'm Alec," the axeman corrects you before unlimbering his axe, and peering around like he expects the entire Dreadmarch to jump out of the next shadow.  "Lead the way," he adds.

Mirallia shakes her head, and pulls her pendant (which is still softly glowing) from beneath her robes, letting it add to the illumination of the torches.  "Lead us to the tower then, Master Serril."

The Lorekeeper nods, and hurries down the hall, Mirallia only pausing for everyone else to begin moving before following behind.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn leads the way, letting everyone else fall in line behind him.  He doesn't draw his weapons, yet, but watches warily.

[Brian]

When the group of you reach the entrance to the Lorekeepers' quarters, the guards eye you, but don't actually ask you to remove your weapons.

After you step inside, Serril leads you to Radagast's study, which looks much the same as it had before.  The differences are that the room smells a little smokey, you see that Radagast has a burnt shoulder, Eske is sitting down with one hand on his stomach, and Devin is tending Astryd, who is lying down and unconscious.  Two lorekeepers are leaning up against the wall near one of the other doors in this room, their hands bound behind their backs, and Mattias is lying even closer, his hands bound as well.  Parthipan is standing near Devin and looking at Mattias with a frown.

This thread now joins In the Night.

[Brian]

Kevin leads the entire entourage deep into the bowels of the keep, down stairs you'd never explored before, past wary looking and unfamiliar guards, and through a hallway where you can see men and women dressed in black flit around, seemingly trying to stay out of sight.

Eventually, you come to a large wooden door.  It is opened to reveal a huge square room.  Doors to small cells line the periphery.  There are a number of guards sitting at a table inside, and they climb to their feet when the door opens.  In the center of the room is a heavy stone block.

It's dark with old dried blood, and there's a grate set into the floor -- presumably as a drain -- beneath it.

Mirallia shudders at the sigh, but says nothing.  Ashton seems calm, and now Neil is the one who looks frightened.

Radagast searches each for a moment, and removes their periapts -- they're necklaces, some kind of bone shaped into a wheel.

Kevin nods.  "I've a prisoner, and two traitors to hand over," he says briskly.

One of the men nods, and retrieves a heavy looking axe from one of the walls.  "Understood," he says.

[Bjorn]

"Mirallia," Bjorn says softly, "there's no reason for you to watch this."

[Brian]

"Perhaps last rites are different on your world," she says back just as quietly.  "But truly, I do need to see this.  At least half of it."

After that, the two traitorous lorekeepers are lined up, asked if they have any words (Ashton has nothing, Neil tries to spit in the executioner's face, but evidently he saw it coming).  Ashton is knelt on the floor, his head on the stone block.

The axe goes up ... and comes down, one swift, sure stroke severing his neck.  There's surprisingly little blood, considering it was a decaptiation.

Neil struggles a bit, but the end result is the same (though Miralla looks away when he's executed).

Devin heaves a sigh of relief.  "That takes care of a fraction of the problem," he says, grimacing.

Kevin eyes him, but turns to Radagast.  "Is there anything else I should be aware of?" he asks.

Radagast frowns, looking over the periapts.  "I'm not certain," he says.  "I hope that this is the end of things, but I expect that we're now at least better prepared to handle the remaining problem."

Radagast then moves on to instruct the guards in the manner of Mattias's imprisonment, and most everyone else disperses, save the guards watching over Kevin.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn closes his eyes briefly for a second.  "My Lord," he says, "unless there is some duty you would like me to take care of, I think perhaps I should rest."

[Brian]

"I believe it would be for the best," Kevin agrees.  "Rest well, Bjorn."

[Rezantis]

Rez, having watched the whole execution without much of a reaction, just looks tired.  Turning, he walks past Bjorn and over towards Alec, and the door.

"We should go and get some . . . sleep. Yeah. Sleep."

[Bjorn]

"The same for you, my Lord.  Rest well, Sir Shuker, all." Bjorn nods at the group, and turns to Mirallia. "Shall we?" Waiting only for her acknowledgement, Bjorn starts to walk back to their quarters.