503-10-14 Phineas murders Raziel with Vox in attendance
From Crossroads Wiki
October 14, 503
While in Phineas's retreat in the Fairview Quarters, a meeting between the rooms' owner and Duke Regent Raziel is interrupted by the infamous Abyssal Keeper, Vox. Unfortunately for Raziel.
Sometimes, the most obvious point of entry is the most prudent to utilize when attempting a murderous raid. It is perhaps with this logic in mind that the door to Phin's Retreat is pushed open, suddenly, but not all that forcefully, truth be told. Across the threshold march a trio of men -- one being none other than Gateway's Most Wanted, Alastor Zecht, coming to you live as Vox -- armed with various tools of evisceration and general perniciousness. Sort of. The one called Vox steps into the vicinity first, armed with .. his hands, for starters, outfitted tonight with the usual foot-long claws. He also sports a pair of delightful blades on a chain, and a six foot sword on his back. Joining him are two nameless henchman, clad in black robes cinched with red sashes; these men are much less intimidating, looking rather normal. One clutches a gnarled quarterstaff in his pale hands, and the other loosely grips a dagger, holding it rather like a foreign object.
Duke Raziel seems about to say more, when the trio bursts in, rather abruptly and just quite blatantly. He rises, abruptly, and suddenly. Yet, he remains calm - for the moment. His hands claim the gloves that were sitting on his lap, and he begins to don them, in the slow art of languid fashion. The mismatched eyes regard Vox, with dark intensity. "Vox," he greets the other man, his tone cold, bereft of darker hints of emotion. His eyes slide to Phineas.
Phineas pivots sharply toward the door with the crashing entrance, his chin riding up several degrees. His tongue wets his lips as he rocks on his heels. "Well well well, isn't this a pretty sort of gathering, you showing up here now," he says in an emotionless, noncommittal fashion. "If I'd known that I was going to be hosting a party, I'd have been certain to get you some corpses to gnaw on, Master Vox. Are you going to use magical letters to speak to me again, or are you just going to admit that apparently you have a voice?"
At the outset, Vox appears to be maniacally happy, his grotesque countenance warped with a mad, snarling smirk; dim gray eyes bulging in anticipation; and oversized, lifeless hands clenching and unclenching. But then, something goes sour .. one of his ebon-clad cronies move to shut the door, but upon glancing down at his hand, lets out an audible gasp. He spats something out about 'treachery,' and 'nullification,' at which point both Leader and Second Crony glance over their shoulders to glower at the man. And that's when the ringleader of this little raid turns back toward the Duke and ex-Duke, raising his left hand up to hang in front of his lunatical face. "My Liege! It has been far too long! The nights have been good to me, and imagine how pleased I was when I spotted you here with dear Master Ashlan .." A sardonic smile is offered as he watches Raziel for a moment, but then a more angered look is shot to Phineas. Also, it is pertinent to note that he speaks in the normal manner of most folks, using a fairly deep, elderly male voice. "Phineas! Now, here, you will make your stand! You will choose oblivion or salvation, for you and your kin! -- I know not what manner of trickery you have invoked in this place, but know that the Children do not forget /betrayal/! Triumph with me and my Children, or perish in obscurity; make the choice!"
Duke Raziel murmurs, quietly, "Far, far, too long, Master Vox." Now, his tone is controlled calm. Quiet. Relaxed. Thoughtful. He watches the other man, and the two henchmen now. It may have been noted, by Vox and/or his henchmen, a simple enough looking man, clad in a brown, ragged cloak sitting at the stairs of the building, as if he were seeking warmth, or coin for beggary. The figure would've said nothing to them, nor even seem to have acknowledged their presence in any sort of fashion. And, Raziel's eyes then wander, focused to the two others, as if assessing the men behind the cloaks.
Phin's jaw tenses and works slightly as Vox speaks before a slow smile spreads. "Oh, you ran into the fact that I protect myself a bit here, did you? If you want to battle, it's on even terms. No magic shit flying about," he drawls, smugly. "If you consider that betrayal, well, guilty as charged. I've never made any bones about the fact that I'm on my side, and only my side." he releases a breath. "But given that I'm clearly outnumbered, and I don't think that a Mistian duke without magic will be much help, my choices are triumph with you or perishing? Let me think." He looks upwards. "I'm all for triumph. You know my price."
Vox's distended, bloodshot pewter eyes roll back over to Raziel, his head lolling over, as though inexorably forced by the moving eyes. "You will excuse me, I pray, if I am in the mood for pleasantries. Have you /seen/ the pandemonium outside? Why, you'd think My Lord Himself was strutting down the Plaza at this very moment!" Of course he has time for some obligatory villainous chiding, but it doesn't last long before his right hand draws up to his back, unsheathing that runic-etched blade that is taller than the average man on the street. "Seeker, the window. Ascendant .. well .. improvise." The entire operation has, perhaps, a curious sense of mismanagement, as though the wicked trio were caught offguard suddenly. No matter, though; the Dagger Crony moves swiftly to try and block off the window, while Quarterstaff does little else than try to look intimidating, it would seem. In any event, the conductor of this impromptu symphony of chaos smirks wildly as he turns his gaze to Phineas. "I know it, Phineas. Know that you will be glorified in the coming days. Your obedience shall not be dismissed. -- We were just .. caught off-guard, that's all. I rather appreciate this little surprise you've rigged, to be perfectly frank," he says, relating this all in a rather conversational tone, all things considered.
Duke Raziel says nothing, he only reaches over and refills the cup of tea from the steaming pot at hand. And, he takes a leisurely sip. And, watches, quietly, as Phineas and Vox conduct 'business', as it would seem. His eyes shift to keep note of the two minions, of their positions, and stance.
"You know that, saying that in front of him, I have to kill the duke now," Phineas says with a dramatic sigh. "Happy to help your cause, Vox, but you keep making my life difficult. Messy, even. I'm glad that I have the means to make it easier on myself." He reaches under his tunic and draws out a knife that's dripping with a clear liquid. Without further comment or thought, he turns toward Raziel and flips the knife through the air at the man.
Vox's eyes flit away from the Fielder to consider the Duke Mists for a moment. His slim sable eyebrows knit together, the twin blades suspended at his left wrist clinking against one another as he clenches and then unclenches that massive metal hand. He takes in as much as he can with a cursory glance, it would seem; the other Mistian fellow's composed demeanor, the refilling of the tea cup, perhaps even the shifting of those mismatched eyes. But then, without so much as lifting a hand towards the Duke, he is looking back to Phineas. "Inconvenient for you, I know, but necessary. And I do appreciate any and all," he begins, but he trails off as that knife is flipped towards Raziel. His henchmen at the door and window brace themselves, but other than that, remain stationary. Their leader does not do the same, however; crouching into a low stance, he keeps that one hand held in front of his face, the opposing clutching his massive blade and angling it down at one side.
Unfortunately for Raziel, he's just not prepared for a knife to be thrown at him. He shifts, too late; and while the blade doesn't impale him exactly on target, it hits him squarely in the side, embedding itself into his body. And this was his favorite set of clothes, too. Raziel stumbles back, blinking in slow astonishment, then he stumbles forwards, and the cup of hot tea is thrown right towards Vox's features, as the dying Duke falls to the floor, and yells, "/Silus/," through the open door, in a desperate cry, as he can feel his life fading from him. He falls to the ground. Lifeless.
The two appearing people may have noticed the unimportant seeming figure clad in a brown raggedy robe sitting on the stairs as they came up. At Raziel's yell, the figure will spring up, withdraw a short sword from the confines of his robe, and move towards the room. If one listens, they can hear the heavy footfalls of running, coming towards the room.
The scene inside this little flat is impressive to say the least. Duke Raziel is falling to the ground as a lifeless corpse, the cup of tea tossed at Vox who stands about six feet into the apartment from the door. A man with a quarterstaff stands about three feet from the door and Phineas is by the humidor and sideboard. Another henchman is by the window with a dagger. Abruptly and suddenly, the door bursts open, announcing company! Two Imperial Knights and a Squire at point. Drusilla is on point, Daniel has a crossbow drawn and Sir Anthony apparently was the one that broke the door down and in the distance, comes the sound of thudded feet running towards the apartment.
Phineas watches Raziel crumple for a moment, emotionless, his hand returning to his side. That's just before the door bursts open, and he spins that way, crouching a bit. "Doesn't anybody -KNOCK-?" he exclaims in strangled outrage, eyes quickly going over the female squire and two knights. He ducks down by the sideboard, teeth clenching tightly, and his hand disappears into the folds of his tunic.
For the briefest of moments, Vox's expression takes on an ecstatic configuration; his swollen slate-gray eyes bulge further out, and his ragged lips part in what could only be termed a thoroughly open-mouthed smile. Perhaps it's the screamed name that snaps him out of the momentary trance, or the thudding of boots in the distance, or perhaps something yet more subtle in the very aether .. regardless, he blinks once, growling out a slew of commands to his compatriots. "Pitrodahkhis, Ascendant! Granflammu vasuhk, Seeker!" The timbre is rough basso, the words likely unfamiliar to more mundane ears. The man with the quarterstaff wheels about, reaching into his robe and haphazardly throwing a spray of multi-colored dust at the approaching Imperials. The dagger-wielding man, meanwhile, brings out his hand that was previously stuffed into the folds of his robe, throwing a small, glassy orb (filled with silvery liquid) at those entering the room -- and, in the process, his fellow henchman. The ringleader of these assailants, however, is already on the move; he runs toward the window, lips moving silently, as the bodies of
Everything seems to be happening so quickly, and yet at the same time slow down just a tad, as can happen when you find yourself in the midst of a situation like this. Being the first of the three through the door once it's been kicked in, Dru has a split, or maybe two, where she gets a look around the room at the scene before shouting back, "Get cover!" and trying to take a dive out of the way of the substances being thrown in her direction. If able to, after regaining her footing, she launches her spear at the dagger wielding man with a snarling sound.
It's only at this moment that a freak appears. At least he's not dressed in black robes. Arms bared through a jerkin that's had it's sleeves either torn off, or tailored off - he bears blue runemarks, tattooed unpleasently into his flesh, much like, yet different than the strange tattooes upon his bald head. His skin is marred with scars, lines of cuts. In one hand, he's brandishing a shining short sword, in the other, a strange arcane ritualistic dagger, only a few inches in length. He screams a rather unpleasent sound to the ear, when he sees the crumpled figure on the floor, a mangled sound that a human shouldn't make, it sounds animalistic - or, infantile. The anguished cry of the mute. Noting the trekking of the metal-clad figure, the ritual dagger plunges into his own flesh, and blood wells as he draws it across the runemarks, the figures eyes rageful.
The ball of glass thrown by Daniel causes a soft 'crunch' as it strikes the ground and the immediate result is a hard blinding flash that hits the area, causing those within the apartment that are not Imperial Knights or Squires, to be temporarily blinded and disoriented. Drusilla's dagger toss at the henchman goes horridly awry, landing somewhere on the ground, while the ball that was thrown by the same henchman strikes Drusilla on the shirt. There's a WOOSH sound as the air gets hot amidst the white light and begins to burn rapidly in the air. Vox disappears under the guise of illusion, while Phineas remains visible once the light fades away. The henchman throwing the coloured dust causes a spark in the air that flashes in front of the Imperial Knights, stunning them as well.
Phin's eyes widen with something very akin to terror when he sees the orb thrown toward Drusilla. His voice rises with a note of desperation. "FIRE! RUN!" he shouts as he starts for the window. But then, the disorientation from the flash of light hits him and he stumbles, going to a knee somewhere between where he was and where he wants to be.
Daniel has his crossbow at ready. As everything happens, he feels the heat from the squire as he just acts. He pulls back on his crossbow, launching the bolt forward. He doesn't move just yet as he's still near the door. He also doesn't /appear/ phased by the fire around him, though he is disorientated.
Anthony grits his teeth at the disorientation that moves across him. He flips it into an underhanded grip so that it rides along his leg, and he gives a battle cry of, "The KEEPER!" as he charges into the fray. Uncertain of vision and footing, he's doing what he can to barrel into the spellcaster who threw something at Drusilla, with best guess given the man's last position.
The Evil Minion near the door stumbles as his sight is lost, swinging his quarterstaff blindly, heading in the general direction of the crazed bald man. The Bad Guy who threw the exploding glass orb does not move, but instead begins quietly chanting, meaning to work some spell or another, likely. Vox continues running .. or, well, stumbling now .. toward the window -- or vaguely in that direction, anyway -- chanting under his breath as well.
The stream of curses that come spewing out of the squires mouth are likely enough to make a sailor blush, but she's not caring much about the delicate ears of any in the room, if they exist, oh no, she's focused solely on ripping off anything on her that might be burning and throwing the it away from herself. Thankfully not much of what she has on is terribly flammable and so it's a brief thing, likely just the pouch on her hip that is tossed aside, but immediately after that the burning sensation strikes and she gasps and staggers, not capable of doing much else in that instant except doing much like Phineas and trying to head for the door to get away from anything else that might have caught fire in the home. A crispy, burnt face is enough for her.
As the dagger is released from drawing the cut along the tattoo upon the freak's arm, Silus points the thing towards Quarterstaff, and spits. The mages especially, perhaps the Knight and Squires as well, will feel the ripple of power in the air, as it's sent hurtling towards Quarterstaff.
Meanwhile, the Duke Regent of Mists lies lifeless, a crumpled body whose side is bloody, a small pool of dark blood forming beneath him.
The rippling effect of Silas magic seems to fail halfway through the casting, however Silas and Raziel's body both fade from view momentarily after. Phineas fades from view, a quarterstaff strikes Daniel solidly on the head moments before Sir Anthony barrels into him from behind. Drusilla can see the window, but running to it won't work because she runs into an invisble Vox. Vox is struck in the shoulder with a crossbow bolt and Evil Dude with Dagger fails his spell attempt. The heat in the apartment is still there, but no more fire reigns in the air.
Phineas resumes his earlier intent, pushing to his feet and heading for the window. He seems, oddly, to have practiced the whole evacuation by window before. A clever person might even note that the window is at the height and placement so that he can escape out it.
Well that wasn't exactly what he was hoping for. The quarterstaff makes his teeth rattle as Daniel blinks a bit more. He tries to shoot the crossbow again at the quarterstaff guy. He doesn't notice Phineas using the escape route most likely created because his wife is always pregnant. He also gets hit by Anthony with a solid thud.
Anthony barrels into Daniel with all the force of a knight who is crushing an enemy! Yar! Crush! As his vision clears, he mutters something like, "Shit," and tries to regain enough equilibrium to dive for the quarterstaff man.
Quarterstuff Man does little else than flail about wildly, swinging his instrument of oaken doom every which way with little regard to proper stance or technique. Dagger Man looks to be at a loss, and steps away from the window, gripping his dagger above his head in a white-knuckled grip. He charges toward Daniel, howling wordless syllables, as Vox gets ran into by a squire and shot in the shoulder. Ouch. Perhaps surprisingly (maybe not!), he does not make any sound of pain, but continues trying to stumble toward the window. He swings his invisible, two metre-long sword around, possessing about as much grace as Ye Olde Quartstaff Guy.
Drusilla wasn't expecting to run into anyone invisible in an attempt to take her charred self nearer an exit, of course when she does run into the invisible Vox, she knows full well that this can't be a good thing. She feels the invisible figure stumble away and tries to keep a hand on it, feeling where it moves to as she rips a dagger from its sheath and attempts to bury the blade into the ... whatever she's stabbing on the invisible guy.
Another crossbow bolt is fired! ...Right from Daniel's crossbow, into Daniel's booted foot. Anthony tries to tackle Quarterstaff man and basically falls flat on his face right infront of the man. Quarterstaff guy misses Daniel, Dagger guy tackles Daniel, Drusilla stabs at Vox's stomach and connects with armour. Vox swings at Drusilla and slices that massive blade into her armour, causing numbness from the impact and a massive bruise. Phineas runs right into the melee, adding another invisible body to the cluster of people now.
Phineas is doing very little but trying to slither around people and get out the window. Not much art involved in this.
Daniel looks at the bolt in his boot. Then looks at Anthony. He then lifts it up to shoot again at quarterstaff guy. Nothing to see here. Nothing at all. Carry on.
Anthony recovers from his humiliating miss and grabs for the legs of the quarterstaff man, fully intending to bring him down via floor-tackle.
The Whirling Quarterstaff .. well, continues to whirl, screaming in a frenzy. That's what happens when his fearless leader disappears, apparently. Dagger Man slashes at Daniel as he tackles, wildly, not seeming to have very much skill with handling the little blade at all. Vox, meanwhile, stumbles only a bit as his sword bounces off Drusilla's armor. He sets his eyes on the window, bringing his hands up before his face and aiming to take a running jump straight through it.
Drusilla curses as the blade of her dagger only comes in contact with armor. Stupid invisibility trick. It makes stabbing someone all the harder. A grunt escapes her lips as she's hit with the sword, so very thankful for her armor as she's left with only numbness and an ugly bruise. The squire tries to shake off the numbness and keep track of Vox so she can try to go for another experimental stab, higher this time if possible, all the while ignoring the burning, throbbbing, blistery thing that is her face.
A crossbow bolt is launched and strikes Quarterstaff guy in the stomach. The tackle by Sir Anthony fails, but Dagger Man is slashing and tackling Daniel in a giant heap, striking his left arm as he does so. Vox and Phineas are out the window, all the while invisible and Drusilla strikes at empty air as she moves to slash, leaving her stumbling into the wall.
Through the open door comes one more body. It's Caspian, sword out. So much for "checking to see if they need help in the Fairview Quarters". Assessing the situation is hard, and Cas looks wide eyed towards the swinging and injured Drusilla, then to Daniel as he's attacked. It's to him that he heads, slashing his sword towards Dagger Man's slashing arm.
Daniel uses his crossbow to slash it against the head of the dagger fella.
Anthony growls and pushes to his knees and launches himself at quarterstaff man again, a dagger drawn from his belt. Stabbity stab.
Quarterstaff lurches backward after the bolt shoots through his belly, dropping the oaken walking apparatus and digging into his pockets, desperately. "Vayaklos Vox! Liberi aum Abyssus, omnadhuk!" He actually tries, in the madness, to withdraw a dagger and stab /himself/ in the neck. Perhaps taking a cue from his fellow, Dagger Bad Guy attempts to do the same, calling out in a gasping voice, "Xiphmadun, Our Keeper of Precepts!"
Slashing through the air and running into the wall without even getting to stab one of the bad guys. That doesn't make Dru very happy. Straightening up and stepping to the window to stare out it a moment, trying to figure out which way Phineas ran since she can't see Vox at all, muchless which way he's fleeing, but the chaos inside quickly brings her back to the brawl inside. She whips around in time to see the henchmen trying to off themselves, so she doesn't waste any time with them and makes a dash for the door. If not to give chase to Phineas, at least to try and get an idea of where he might be headed.
Phineas is invisible too now, after the second attempt.
Caspian's sword comes right down on Dagger Man's dagger, blade's clashing and both men keep their blades but no injuries. Drusilla is able to get out the door, but Phineas is no where in sight and hasn't been seen since he screamed fire and ran. Sir Anthony stabs Quarterstaff guy right in the kahonies, and Daniel's attempt to club Dagger man with the crossbow works horridly as it slips from his hand and sails across the room.
Caspian doesn't know where Drusilla is running off to, as he has no clue that either Vox or Phineas were even here thanks their their invisiblity. But he doesn't have much opportunity to investigate, as he's busy with the men who, he thinks, are the main focus of this little battle scene. "The hell happened?!" Grimaced to whatever knight is still here as his sword clashes with the dagger of the suicidal man. He tries again, not willing to lose this guy to death yet and slices for his dagger arm.
