The chamber felt even larger on the inside.
Cold stone. High ceiling. Nearly dustless, clearly maintained and used regularly.
We approach the table slowly, weapons drawn.
Aric: "It's… It's a map."
A large sprawling map of Esmourne. Drawn in incredible detail border to border. Everything down to the routes of traveling merchants and specific positions the guards can and can't see.
These are plans.
Thyra: "Holy shit…"
Thyra leans over the table, eyes narrowing. Rhovan stood beside her, his jaw tight.
Kareth: "It's not just a map."
Rhovan nods
Rhovan: "It's a strategy. A plan"
Several rows of notes lay in the corners and on extra pieces of paper.
Dates, names, supply logs, inventory counts, messenger routes and timetables, officer shifts. And the key part everyone's eye locked onto.
The rigger "incident" → take power of "mission"
Civil unrest → manageable.
Resulting Chaos → justification for council ascension
Thyra whispered it aloud.
Thyra: "The attacks were. Planned.
Her voice shakes slightly, not out of fear. Out of fury.
Kareth: "The council orchestrated everything"
Aric swallows hard.
Aric: "There's more papers over here"
Aric lifts a paper from a sleeve leaning against one of the legs of the table.
Aric begins reading it aloud.
Phase 2.
Remove the king → Assassination via Rigger
Shift Esmourne to being controlled by Council
Instate General Ardan
Kareth: "Remove the king?"
Rhovan: "Assassinate him. This isn't just trying to take control. This is eliminating opposition."
Thyra slams the table
Thyra: "They aren't responding to any fucking threat. They're making a problem to solve and seem like good people."
Aric: "We need to tell anyone."
Kareth: "Based on those guards we saw earlier this isn't from the main royal guards. Its something separate. We could tell them. Or tell the guild."
Rhovan: "That's if we can get 10 steps out of this room with that information."
Then I hear it.
Footsteps. Boots slamming into stone.
Dozens of pairs of footsteps.
And fast.
Growing ever louder from the hallway behind us.
Rhovan: "They heard us open the door and sent a fucking army."
Thyra raises her spear.
Thyra: "Get ready."
Guards rush through the entrance. A whole platoon of guards in the same armour as the ones we took down earlier.
All of their blades are already drawn.
They flood through the door. Pushing us back against the wall, both sides and the path forward swarmed with guards.
Guard Captain: "Capture them alive if possible. Though don't hesitate to kill them. Leaving no witnesses is our main priority."
Aric: "Great. Just lovely."
Kareth: "I don't think we can fight our way out of this one."
Aric exhales, particles of light gathering around him.
Aric: "Not like it needs to be a clean fight, there's no civilians to save or buildings to stop from collapsing."
Rhovan chuckles slightly.
The guards advance a few steps before stopping.
A footstep echoing behind them
A footstep that the owner clearly let us hear. Because there was nothing until right now.
Atop the small staircase into the room stood a lone figure.
Presence alone is more threatening and suffocating than anything I had felt before.
It makes Thyra's gaze from before we properly met feel like that of an infant.
He's tall. Maybe around the height of Thyra.
Fully cloaked, face entirely shrouded.
A single blade in its sheath at his side. Fully black.
No insignia
No introduction aside from a single footstep.
Rhovan: "T- There's no thread. No line. Nothing."
Every guard turned to look at him.
It's like every breath in the room got stuck in each and every throat.
Presence like death itself.
The air shifts around him as if he's the centre of the universe.