- Joined
- Jun 29, 2012
- Messages
- 4,439
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- Age
- 33
The wedding of the Lo children on the southern end of the city left many other parts of the city drained. The Deathlings had accounted for the possibility of an attack against the Empress, or her children, but they had not accounted for a complete "lunatic" attacking their positions elsewhere in the city. Somewhere between the Imperial Bridge District and the Merchant District, a large explosion was heard, after which that part of the city's alarms went off, guards running down the streets to investigate the commotion. To their surprise, it was the previous lapdog of the Empress, Tristan Kade, or Lampero, from whatever perspective was being judged.
There was something eerily off about him, however. Not only were his eyes a murky black and red, but even his complexion was dark, the scene around him worse yet. Husks of cracked and charred Deathling armor lay scattered around the man clad in some strange barbarian outfit, while one Deathling remained dangling by the neck from his grip, until said Deathling's breath was seemingly strangled away, his body falling limp. Within the blink of an eye, his body simply dissolved into black smoke that gently scattered with the wind, while the now empty armor simply fell to the floor with a heavy clank. Deathlings kept charging at him, however it was clear to the citizens looking from the windows that it wasn't a real fight, but a demonstration of the gap between himself and the rabble - he was just toying with them, asserting his unspoken power.
The commotion caused disruption elsewhere in the city as well, it wasn't entirely obvious if it was planned, but the Blockade around Regalia suddenly started shifting when the chaos Tristan was causing in the upper District started pulling troops away from their positions. The battleships sailed into the Crown river in the direction of the Imperial Palace, shelling the dockside fortifications regardless of the presence of Deathlings or not. Collateral damage was surely caused to the surrounding houses, but the front ship was clearly on a mission of much greater importance than the lives of a few citizens. With presumed wind mages on board powering the sails, the ship crashed straight into the Imperial bridge, a somewhat similar irony to the Qadir occupation in the past resulting in the destruction of that very same bridge.
The Imperial Bridge had been used to besiege the Imperial Palace, though as the ship crashed into it, all the make-shift trebuchets collapsed or fell off, while what little Deathlings that had not ran off to fight Tristan jumped off the bridge to save their lives. There was a moment of silence just then. The ship was badly damaged. Two of the masts had collapsed and the entire front side had ripped open, but the bridge was damaged to such a point that it could no longer be used to cross the river. The nearest other bridge being some mile further north, the Deathling guards on the other end nearer to the Palace found themselves severely cut off from the rest of the city.
From the now sinking wreckage of the Regalian battleship jumped forth soldiers of the Tenpenny Army, charging up the bridge and killing Deathlings until they reached the walls of the Imperial Palace itself. From within there, news of the events outside had already set in motion a flight plan. Horns were blown and the heavy chains of the Palace gates started turning the wheels, the massive doors adorned with the Unionist eyes swinging open. Out stormed Imperial guards surrounding a large gold and metal carriage that followed them around while it was protected by a large wall of Imperial guards holding up tower shields and a formation. A second battleship sailed up to the wreckage of the last one which had already started sinking forwards, rolling out a long drawbridge that connected with the back of the sinking ship. The carriage and the Imperial guards, after quickly exchanging words with the Tenpenny soldiers on the bridge, raced for the ship down the bridge.
The carriage was safely carried to the ship, the Deathling guards too occupied elsewhere or unable to try and attack the sortie due to the cannon fire of the other ship. The citizens living on the water side and those at the Museum could vaguely interpret this event as the Emperor being hurried to safety out of the Palace, a somewhat decent crowd of courtesans followed him, but a large part of the Imperial Guard eventually returned to the Palace and shut close the gates. The two remaining ships raised their sails and sailed off, mockingly playing the Regalian anthem on their departure at the Deathlings who could only just watch the presumed Emperor sail off outside of their reach.
Elsewhere yet, Baird and Einarr Blackwater attempted to escape from Regalia, using the coronation as a distraction, but hastening their move when Tristan's further escalation improved their window of opportunity. It had become common whisper in the city that the Coen led Kronau Resistance had been dealt a heavy blow as all their leaders had been ambushed and arrested, however Freya had been lenient on them and permitted them free movement in the city. It became obvious to the Lo's regime that this kindness was now abused when these two tried to break out. With double axes, they fought their way out of the barely defended northwest gate, breaking into the countryside and shaking off their pursuers by the river cliffs of the upper Mount Helen creeks.
Back in the city, the news of their escape already started circulating despite Tristan's continuing.. Leaving a trail of burning, charred and crumbling houses in his wake, Tristan began carving his way to the Leutz Vixe district, where he finally made a general announcement to the people who still dared to cross his path. Tristan now clearly possessed God-like powers, it being a mystery where this otherwise un-magical mundane received them from. He announced himself to be a new god, an enemy of both the resistance movements with their petty desires as well as Freya Lo's regime, before a large shadow magic portal consumed him and the nearby vegetation, just leaving behind dead soil and citizens wondering what in the Void had just occurred, whilst departed to grieve over any lives lost alongside their now damaged homes.
It became obvious to everyone that the situation in Regalia had become a lot more complicated. With Tristan's unholy transformation into some sort of Demi-emonic higher power, the relatively simple to understand rebellion against Freya's regime became significantly more intricate with a three way struggle. Furthermore, it was only a matter of time before Freya's regime was going to crack down hard on the remainder of the Kronau Resistance members as one of them had severely offended her hospitality and kindness to the captured group. Speculation on the flight of the Emperor were answered quickly when strategically located Black Order spies started circulating rumors about the Emperor's intentions.
The message was clear: The Emperor refused to abandon the Imperial Crown Isle. He would remain either on the ship blockade around Regalia, or re-enter Regalian soil elsewhere on the island, seeking the right location from which to hold to court, awaiting the other Resistance groups clearing out one of the major countryside settlements to set up a base of operations. Tristan meanwhile had resurrected an older castle with strange magics to become his lair. Curiously enough, he was able to levy the same amount of control over Deathlings as Freya Lo had, thus some Deathlings followed him to become Keepguards. Worse yet, he used void magics to mutate them into Vilitatei Deathling hybrids, thus creating his own minions and creatures, the intentions of whom remained to be seen for now.
Only time would tell how the other resistance groups would react to all these events.
