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This is Act 2 of the 4 piece End of the Year post. Most of this is written in a somewhat hurry due to the holidays and cramming it all out before the end of the year. I hope everyone will enjoy reading it all, or interacting with it all in roleplay, whether they signed up or not.
The mob of Coen supporters was surprisingly well filled with women, baker's wives with pin rolls, tailors with ironing irons, all charging towards the gate. As the gate came closer in sight, it was still closed. All of a sudden however, roots from the nearby trees burst from the floor as if powered by magic, grappling onto the gate from all sides. The very ground itself shook as the roots started tearing at the wooden gate eventually shattering it to pieces and tearing the rubble to the ground with such force that the stonework above the gatehouse even started falling apart. When the rubble had set the mob descended onto the courtyard which was still filled with Anahera soldiers, Jehenne Lampero rushing forward with the Coen banner, followed by Milahme Coen using bow and arrow to shoot the guards on the walls and Luna Levine and Ania Santorski with sword to keep Jehenna safe. The flood into the Council Castle was too much to handle for the Anahera soldiers who started retreating back into the castle keep itself. The State Councilmen heard the commotion outside and hoped so dearly that salvation would come.
After about half an hour of trying to break down the keep door, the gate shattered and the mob rushed in. The first row was mowed down by crossbowmen but the sheer number of rioters overwhelmed the defences inside the castle. Jehenna marched inside, she had just put the Coen banner on the gatehouse outside, or what was left of it, and was now marching in with a Coen sigil shield with her protectors near her. On their way into the grand staircase, Jared Silverhand and Selwyn Crassian came down dragging the Fourth Prince by the shoulders. They quickly exchanged words, Jared informing them where to find William and the others, before more soldiers showed up and the Elves chose to retreat rather than fight to keep the prince safe who was in no shape to defend himself. The miserably status of the prince frightened Jehenna and Milahme, what could Andrieu have done to their husband and brother? With fear in their minds but determination in their hearts, the two marched on with Luna Levine and Ania Santorski in front, Ania having switched to two axes to cleave her way past the Anahera soldiers. The chaos outside the room where the State Councilmen were trapped became louder and louder. The Supreme Reverend stood as the women conveyed to a corner and William and Ulric paced to the door. He proclaimed "Arm yourselves, this is either salvation or the end, and end as dragons we shall!" as he peered over to Moriarty Kade's corpse on the table. Ulric and William promptly pushed over a chair and broke off a leg each, standing ready to go down with a fight as the doors slammed open.
At the sight of his wife William dropped the chair leg and fell to his knees. An end to this living nightmare had finally come. With the women cheering behind them, Ulric paced forward, quickly having straightened his moustache, he hesitantly extended a hand to Ania Santorski who in return shook his while still panting and covered in sweat. It was small moments like these where old foes would forget their past qualms and hatred and unite against a common foe, a small moment of healing in a world around them being consumed in chaos. Jehenna rushed to her husband and embraced him as Theresa stepped forward with Camila and Astrid in tow. "Now is not the time for a victory prayer Ser Coen, if what I think is happening outside, then we must arm ourselves with the utmost haste to secure a proper victory. We will not win until that monster is gone from the living". William peered back and nodded as Milahme approached, handing a spare sword to William and Ulric. Jehenna handed her husband's shield to him with a bow, granting William all the courage he needed to sally forth with the supporters that had all gathered by the door.
This time with Ulric and William at the head side by side, the mob sallied forth from the castle keep fighting their way out of Anahera reinforcements. Imperial Guards had arrived from their flanks, rushing in with a carnage of fighting to quickly form a cordon around the rescued State Councilmen. Tristan Kade approached William and Ulric before raising his helmet. After exchanging greetings and informing one another of the situation, William opted to join Christopher Black and the loyal Violets to assault the Violet Order Castle and cleanse the city of the corrupt guards. Ulric instead with the support of Tristan opted to assault the Tyrian fortress, a large fort previously used by the Imperial guard which Andrieu was supposedly hiding in. The groups split up while Theresa and Bethany took Astrid and Camila and made their way to the Grand Edouard Estate to salvage family property in the consuming chaos around them. Houses were ablaze, the sky was filled with an orchestra of weapons clashing, church bells ringing and screams. This was now a pressing time for them, the following hours would decide if there was indeed any future left in the name Anahera.
Fiora Cerdici and Leopold Ceadon had meanwhile finished organizing the assault on the city walls and the harbor. The fighting had been relatively isolated within the city itself, but the harbor was still tightly controlled by the Anahera loyalists. Rerik Ulster, Thurinor Aglarebon and Sasha Belinsky joined together with Ardynn Belledin and Veridan Daevaar who had already came to Fiora's aid. Upon command of Fiora, the whole crowd rushed trough the Imperial gateway, spilling into the harbor. Another scene of carnage would befall the mob as Anahera ships in the harbor had actually turned their cannons and started shelling the people who rushed into the open. Bodies flew around everywhere and agonizing cries were heard all around, yet the people rushed on. Leopold Ceadon secured the main gatehouse with his supporters, capturing the trebuchets which had been mounted onto the walls by Andrieu not days before. Rerik Ulster and Sasha Belinsky mounted the walls, arming the trebuchets and opening fire on the Anahera ships using Rerik's knowledge of siege engines and Sasha's raw power. Thurinor Aglarebon meanwhile held off Anahera supporters with Leopold to keep the walls secure.
Down on the ground Fiora Cerdici made her way into the dockmaster's office with the assistance of Ardynn Belledin and Veridan Daevaar. While the two held off Anahera soldiers outside, Fiora Cerdici managed to secure the harbor key from the dead harbor master who had died from a cannonball hitting his office. The group then quickly rushed to the other side and made their way to the Forterza tower, the furthest tower on the docks. Veridan quickly dispatched all Anahera supporters on the way there before holding the front door safe while Fiora and Ardynn rushed inside. After climbing the many steps all the way to the top, Fiora used part of her dress to light a torch, which she then used to ignite the fire of the emergency lighthouse, just as that Maiar had instructed her to do. Ardyn Belledin rolled down a massive Imperial banner and lit up the fireworks to signal their victory over the harbor. A fire arrow also went up near the State Council castle now and various other parts of the city, the Tavern, the Opera hall, the Vittro Dressolini estate. Yet the Anahera ships were still there and continued shelling the harbor.
From the sewers now came the smugglers, the same people who had been contacted and paid by that Maiar. Rhys Nhaeslal and some of his smuggling compatriots rowed their boats from the large sewer entrances out in the open, docking at the waterside. Anii-ma Vaendit quickly followed with a few more boats carrying food. Rhys opened the boats of his own men, revealing stacks upon stacks of old swords and pitchforks. The citizens outside the harbor quickly armed themselves and were asked to pay not a single Regal. Everything had already been paid for by an anonymous benefactor, and it made the smugglers quite rich. On the other hand, they were also happy to see this Anahera go, it made smuggling difficult as he more tightly controlled the harbor and what would come in and out of the Imperial City. Rhys set up shop in one of the abandoned warehouses, dispensing materials that were being shipped in one by one as Anii-ma Vaendit armed himself and made sure the shipments would come through safely together with a couple of armed citizens. They were in a relatively quiet part of the city, but this didn't make their work any less crucial for the whole of Regalia. The citizens they armed eventually linked up with Lorenzo Martinez's group who were planning to assault the Armory to deny the Anahera supporters gunpowder and further weapons.
With cannon balls flying overhead and people dying all around, N'omiel M'triche skittered about trying to find a way to make her paws affect this conflict. Then she suddenly saw a man running around with piles of jewelry in his hands. And he also wore the Anahera house colors. She remembered Tristan telling her anyone wearing those colors was bad, bad, bad. With a speedy dash she ran up to the man, biting down on his heel as he tried to balance himself to keep upright. The man yelled out "What is this thing biting on Herminiooooo's foooot!" He raised his leg waving it around with N'omiel still attached like a furball bouncing back and forth with her tail flapping in the air. Herminio lost his footing and fell over backwards with all the shinies falling all around him. He knew what was happening around him, and he wanted to leave the city, run away with all this gold and jewelry to start over somewhere else and be a rich man. But this little rat had other plans. These shinies weren't his. They were hers! Nomiel rushed up Herminio who was trying to sit back up and started scratching at his face. With a high shrill shriek Herminio started yelling obscenities at the Klein, instead of actually using his hands to just toss her away.
Meanwhile a street away, Adam Ueltec had gotten into a fight with a bunch of Anahera mercenaries near a street vendor. The street vendor was Abram J. Truvor, the famous melon salesman who made his way to Regalia every year to sell his soft and delicious melons. Adam was surrounded by the Anahera soldiers though he managed to dash towards the cart behind him and with a push, send it crashing down the street which was a downwards slope. The cart veered past Madame Douard's flower boutique which was on fire, straight into the street where Herminio and N'omiel were fighting over the shinies. The melon cart crashed into a dead horse that was laying in the street before flipping over and sending all the melons flying. Adam quickly stood up from the cart, picking up his sword and charging off to assist the rebellion elsewhere, but N'omiel and Herminio weren't as lucky. When the dust settled N'omiel was gone, only a melon with two little paws remained. Herminio was similarly struck by a melon as his head had been replaced with one. Herminio struggled to have it removed while N'omiel dug hers out from the inside. She made little holes in the sides to stick her arms out of while creating a small breathing and looking hole. N'omiel was now armored like Tristan, like a big knight. And a big knight deserves shinies. N'omiel tried to bend over to pick up a bejeweled necklace, but the melon's weight became too much and started rolling down the hill with her inside. Herminio eventually gave up trying to get the melon off of his head, got on all fours and crawled around picking up some jewelry. When he heard the mob closing in on him, he blindly yet elegantly crawled away into some dark alley where he could escape from, or remove his new helmet at a more convenient time.
Lorenzo Martinez had prepared the citizens to assault the Armory which was heavily fortified by Anahera mercenaries. He was about ready to give the starting signal when a melon suddenly rolled by with a floppy fluffy tail attached to it. The whole crowd sort of watched it go by in complete silence before it burst into a battle cry and charged into the armory when the Melon was out of sight. Supported by Cecil Empolan's lyre magic, the crowd crossed the road and clashed into the doorways of the Armory. The Armory was a strongly fortified building, but it wasn't as secure as a proper castle. Still, the inside proved difficult to maneuver as the defenders had had adequate time to place around defences and barricades. To make matters worse, they had mounted swivel cannons onto the barricades providing a dangerous path for the rebels to take which was definitely in the advantage of the defenders. Santiago Martinez proved to be the solution to the problem at hand. With Dragon's fire magic, he set ablaze the barricades, sending a surging fire tempest through the hallways burning the cannon armed defenders. Myrnin Thane quickly followed afterwards by using some of the stonework outside as a rubble made shovel, pushing all the burning woodwork out of the way with his stone magic. With Kristopher Fleuris, Roshia Heriet and Santiago Martinez in tow, Lorenzo Martinez charged forward through the rubble towards the back storage rooms. The Anahera soldiers were no match for the now armed citizens that supported them and they were quickly subdued. When the group arrived upstairs, Roshia Heriet found some papers proving Andrieu's consorting with Qadir to get them to assist in attacking Regalian citizens as long as they attacked the rebellious side. She quickly tucked a few of them away in her belt before she marched onto the balcony with Lorenzo Martinez. Together with Santiago, they cut down the Anahera banners before raising the Imperial standard again. This entire part of the city had now been liberated. Most of the Anahera soldiers were either dead or surrendered, Myrnin Thane using his stone magic to create makeshift prisons for them while Cecil Empolan started playing music to entertain the citizens who had gathered nearby a bonfire. The fight was far from over, but they needed a rest, a break to gather morale. The worst of the fighting was in fact yet to come in the Violet Castle assault and the impending naval assault which was coming for them.
The mob of Coen supporters was surprisingly well filled with women, baker's wives with pin rolls, tailors with ironing irons, all charging towards the gate. As the gate came closer in sight, it was still closed. All of a sudden however, roots from the nearby trees burst from the floor as if powered by magic, grappling onto the gate from all sides. The very ground itself shook as the roots started tearing at the wooden gate eventually shattering it to pieces and tearing the rubble to the ground with such force that the stonework above the gatehouse even started falling apart. When the rubble had set the mob descended onto the courtyard which was still filled with Anahera soldiers, Jehenne Lampero rushing forward with the Coen banner, followed by Milahme Coen using bow and arrow to shoot the guards on the walls and Luna Levine and Ania Santorski with sword to keep Jehenna safe. The flood into the Council Castle was too much to handle for the Anahera soldiers who started retreating back into the castle keep itself. The State Councilmen heard the commotion outside and hoped so dearly that salvation would come.
After about half an hour of trying to break down the keep door, the gate shattered and the mob rushed in. The first row was mowed down by crossbowmen but the sheer number of rioters overwhelmed the defences inside the castle. Jehenna marched inside, she had just put the Coen banner on the gatehouse outside, or what was left of it, and was now marching in with a Coen sigil shield with her protectors near her. On their way into the grand staircase, Jared Silverhand and Selwyn Crassian came down dragging the Fourth Prince by the shoulders. They quickly exchanged words, Jared informing them where to find William and the others, before more soldiers showed up and the Elves chose to retreat rather than fight to keep the prince safe who was in no shape to defend himself. The miserably status of the prince frightened Jehenna and Milahme, what could Andrieu have done to their husband and brother? With fear in their minds but determination in their hearts, the two marched on with Luna Levine and Ania Santorski in front, Ania having switched to two axes to cleave her way past the Anahera soldiers. The chaos outside the room where the State Councilmen were trapped became louder and louder. The Supreme Reverend stood as the women conveyed to a corner and William and Ulric paced to the door. He proclaimed "Arm yourselves, this is either salvation or the end, and end as dragons we shall!" as he peered over to Moriarty Kade's corpse on the table. Ulric and William promptly pushed over a chair and broke off a leg each, standing ready to go down with a fight as the doors slammed open.
At the sight of his wife William dropped the chair leg and fell to his knees. An end to this living nightmare had finally come. With the women cheering behind them, Ulric paced forward, quickly having straightened his moustache, he hesitantly extended a hand to Ania Santorski who in return shook his while still panting and covered in sweat. It was small moments like these where old foes would forget their past qualms and hatred and unite against a common foe, a small moment of healing in a world around them being consumed in chaos. Jehenna rushed to her husband and embraced him as Theresa stepped forward with Camila and Astrid in tow. "Now is not the time for a victory prayer Ser Coen, if what I think is happening outside, then we must arm ourselves with the utmost haste to secure a proper victory. We will not win until that monster is gone from the living". William peered back and nodded as Milahme approached, handing a spare sword to William and Ulric. Jehenna handed her husband's shield to him with a bow, granting William all the courage he needed to sally forth with the supporters that had all gathered by the door.
This time with Ulric and William at the head side by side, the mob sallied forth from the castle keep fighting their way out of Anahera reinforcements. Imperial Guards had arrived from their flanks, rushing in with a carnage of fighting to quickly form a cordon around the rescued State Councilmen. Tristan Kade approached William and Ulric before raising his helmet. After exchanging greetings and informing one another of the situation, William opted to join Christopher Black and the loyal Violets to assault the Violet Order Castle and cleanse the city of the corrupt guards. Ulric instead with the support of Tristan opted to assault the Tyrian fortress, a large fort previously used by the Imperial guard which Andrieu was supposedly hiding in. The groups split up while Theresa and Bethany took Astrid and Camila and made their way to the Grand Edouard Estate to salvage family property in the consuming chaos around them. Houses were ablaze, the sky was filled with an orchestra of weapons clashing, church bells ringing and screams. This was now a pressing time for them, the following hours would decide if there was indeed any future left in the name Anahera.
Fiora Cerdici and Leopold Ceadon had meanwhile finished organizing the assault on the city walls and the harbor. The fighting had been relatively isolated within the city itself, but the harbor was still tightly controlled by the Anahera loyalists. Rerik Ulster, Thurinor Aglarebon and Sasha Belinsky joined together with Ardynn Belledin and Veridan Daevaar who had already came to Fiora's aid. Upon command of Fiora, the whole crowd rushed trough the Imperial gateway, spilling into the harbor. Another scene of carnage would befall the mob as Anahera ships in the harbor had actually turned their cannons and started shelling the people who rushed into the open. Bodies flew around everywhere and agonizing cries were heard all around, yet the people rushed on. Leopold Ceadon secured the main gatehouse with his supporters, capturing the trebuchets which had been mounted onto the walls by Andrieu not days before. Rerik Ulster and Sasha Belinsky mounted the walls, arming the trebuchets and opening fire on the Anahera ships using Rerik's knowledge of siege engines and Sasha's raw power. Thurinor Aglarebon meanwhile held off Anahera supporters with Leopold to keep the walls secure.
Down on the ground Fiora Cerdici made her way into the dockmaster's office with the assistance of Ardynn Belledin and Veridan Daevaar. While the two held off Anahera soldiers outside, Fiora Cerdici managed to secure the harbor key from the dead harbor master who had died from a cannonball hitting his office. The group then quickly rushed to the other side and made their way to the Forterza tower, the furthest tower on the docks. Veridan quickly dispatched all Anahera supporters on the way there before holding the front door safe while Fiora and Ardynn rushed inside. After climbing the many steps all the way to the top, Fiora used part of her dress to light a torch, which she then used to ignite the fire of the emergency lighthouse, just as that Maiar had instructed her to do. Ardyn Belledin rolled down a massive Imperial banner and lit up the fireworks to signal their victory over the harbor. A fire arrow also went up near the State Council castle now and various other parts of the city, the Tavern, the Opera hall, the Vittro Dressolini estate. Yet the Anahera ships were still there and continued shelling the harbor.
From the sewers now came the smugglers, the same people who had been contacted and paid by that Maiar. Rhys Nhaeslal and some of his smuggling compatriots rowed their boats from the large sewer entrances out in the open, docking at the waterside. Anii-ma Vaendit quickly followed with a few more boats carrying food. Rhys opened the boats of his own men, revealing stacks upon stacks of old swords and pitchforks. The citizens outside the harbor quickly armed themselves and were asked to pay not a single Regal. Everything had already been paid for by an anonymous benefactor, and it made the smugglers quite rich. On the other hand, they were also happy to see this Anahera go, it made smuggling difficult as he more tightly controlled the harbor and what would come in and out of the Imperial City. Rhys set up shop in one of the abandoned warehouses, dispensing materials that were being shipped in one by one as Anii-ma Vaendit armed himself and made sure the shipments would come through safely together with a couple of armed citizens. They were in a relatively quiet part of the city, but this didn't make their work any less crucial for the whole of Regalia. The citizens they armed eventually linked up with Lorenzo Martinez's group who were planning to assault the Armory to deny the Anahera supporters gunpowder and further weapons.
With cannon balls flying overhead and people dying all around, N'omiel M'triche skittered about trying to find a way to make her paws affect this conflict. Then she suddenly saw a man running around with piles of jewelry in his hands. And he also wore the Anahera house colors. She remembered Tristan telling her anyone wearing those colors was bad, bad, bad. With a speedy dash she ran up to the man, biting down on his heel as he tried to balance himself to keep upright. The man yelled out "What is this thing biting on Herminiooooo's foooot!" He raised his leg waving it around with N'omiel still attached like a furball bouncing back and forth with her tail flapping in the air. Herminio lost his footing and fell over backwards with all the shinies falling all around him. He knew what was happening around him, and he wanted to leave the city, run away with all this gold and jewelry to start over somewhere else and be a rich man. But this little rat had other plans. These shinies weren't his. They were hers! Nomiel rushed up Herminio who was trying to sit back up and started scratching at his face. With a high shrill shriek Herminio started yelling obscenities at the Klein, instead of actually using his hands to just toss her away.
Meanwhile a street away, Adam Ueltec had gotten into a fight with a bunch of Anahera mercenaries near a street vendor. The street vendor was Abram J. Truvor, the famous melon salesman who made his way to Regalia every year to sell his soft and delicious melons. Adam was surrounded by the Anahera soldiers though he managed to dash towards the cart behind him and with a push, send it crashing down the street which was a downwards slope. The cart veered past Madame Douard's flower boutique which was on fire, straight into the street where Herminio and N'omiel were fighting over the shinies. The melon cart crashed into a dead horse that was laying in the street before flipping over and sending all the melons flying. Adam quickly stood up from the cart, picking up his sword and charging off to assist the rebellion elsewhere, but N'omiel and Herminio weren't as lucky. When the dust settled N'omiel was gone, only a melon with two little paws remained. Herminio was similarly struck by a melon as his head had been replaced with one. Herminio struggled to have it removed while N'omiel dug hers out from the inside. She made little holes in the sides to stick her arms out of while creating a small breathing and looking hole. N'omiel was now armored like Tristan, like a big knight. And a big knight deserves shinies. N'omiel tried to bend over to pick up a bejeweled necklace, but the melon's weight became too much and started rolling down the hill with her inside. Herminio eventually gave up trying to get the melon off of his head, got on all fours and crawled around picking up some jewelry. When he heard the mob closing in on him, he blindly yet elegantly crawled away into some dark alley where he could escape from, or remove his new helmet at a more convenient time.
Lorenzo Martinez had prepared the citizens to assault the Armory which was heavily fortified by Anahera mercenaries. He was about ready to give the starting signal when a melon suddenly rolled by with a floppy fluffy tail attached to it. The whole crowd sort of watched it go by in complete silence before it burst into a battle cry and charged into the armory when the Melon was out of sight. Supported by Cecil Empolan's lyre magic, the crowd crossed the road and clashed into the doorways of the Armory. The Armory was a strongly fortified building, but it wasn't as secure as a proper castle. Still, the inside proved difficult to maneuver as the defenders had had adequate time to place around defences and barricades. To make matters worse, they had mounted swivel cannons onto the barricades providing a dangerous path for the rebels to take which was definitely in the advantage of the defenders. Santiago Martinez proved to be the solution to the problem at hand. With Dragon's fire magic, he set ablaze the barricades, sending a surging fire tempest through the hallways burning the cannon armed defenders. Myrnin Thane quickly followed afterwards by using some of the stonework outside as a rubble made shovel, pushing all the burning woodwork out of the way with his stone magic. With Kristopher Fleuris, Roshia Heriet and Santiago Martinez in tow, Lorenzo Martinez charged forward through the rubble towards the back storage rooms. The Anahera soldiers were no match for the now armed citizens that supported them and they were quickly subdued. When the group arrived upstairs, Roshia Heriet found some papers proving Andrieu's consorting with Qadir to get them to assist in attacking Regalian citizens as long as they attacked the rebellious side. She quickly tucked a few of them away in her belt before she marched onto the balcony with Lorenzo Martinez. Together with Santiago, they cut down the Anahera banners before raising the Imperial standard again. This entire part of the city had now been liberated. Most of the Anahera soldiers were either dead or surrendered, Myrnin Thane using his stone magic to create makeshift prisons for them while Cecil Empolan started playing music to entertain the citizens who had gathered nearby a bonfire. The fight was far from over, but they needed a rest, a break to gather morale. The worst of the fighting was in fact yet to come in the Violet Castle assault and the impending naval assault which was coming for them.
