What happened in the Throne Room? Marvok's point of view.
The king sits on his throne watching as Tarrik prepares his men, they are waiting for the court magician to finish placing the magic rope to allow them to descend easily. I am standing next to the king as usual, also watching the preparations.
King Raden says, "Where is Zamart? He should be here, he would have had the rope ready in a few moments."
"Last I heard, he had gone back to his quarters to rest, should I tell someone to go get him?"
King Raden says, "Yes, I want him here when Tarrik brings me the beastman's head."
"As you command."
With a wave of his hand, I send a guard to fetch Zamart. After the guard leaves, the court mage finally places the rope and goes to join the other mages. Tarrik begins to send his men for the rope.
-Tarrik, don't you know that a good commander leads his men? You're nothing but a fat....
Coward and I hope the beastman kills you before you die.
The king sits bored and impatient. Tarrik has been in the well for more than ten minutes.
King Raden says, "What's taking them so long?"
"They're probably having trouble finding him, Your Majesty. If he found a way out of the well, it could take them quite a while to find him."
The Royal Guard says, "Your Majesty, someone is coming this way."
King Raden says, "Well, it's about time!"
Suddenly, the throne room goes dark and all the enchanted candles go out. At the same time, the king and I hear sounds of pain from the court magicians and a faint scream coming from the well. As I look into the well, I can no longer see the rope.
King Raden says "What just happened?"
The court magician says "Sire, all our magic has been AAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
The king turns at that terrible scream and sees all the wizards in his court burst into flames.
King Raden shouts "It's an attack! We're under attack!"
All the royal guards rush to surround and protect the king.
"Escort His Majesty out of here and take him to safety at once!"
The royal guards take the king out through the secret door behind the throne. I stay behind to take control of the situation.
"Someone find me a court magician who can explain what's going on!"
That is if any of them are still alive. The guard sent earlier to find the head court mage Zamart enters through the gates and rushes to inform me.
The guard says, "Chancellor, the chief court magician Zamart is nowhere to be found, his chambers are empty, his things are missing."
Did he run away? Or is he the one behind this?
The guard says, "I do not know my lord."
Several more guards return and say that all the court magicians are dead. I look around and remember the well.
"Go get enough normal rope to pull and get our people out of there. Go see the smiths and check if the seal on the well is ready. Tell the servants to check the storeroom for normal candles and put them in place. Alert the city guard and the army stationed in the capital to be on high alert."
Each guard, when directed to do so, salutes and hurries to carry out my orders. I start pacing back and forth in front of the throne, trying to understand what is happening.
Did Zamart betray us and do all this to us? Or is the beastman behind all this? I need to know what happened or the king will want my head.
"You, you and you, go out into the city and find me a wizard, even an adventurer will do."
The three guards salute and run out of the room. Shortly after, servants enter with candles and begin to place and light them. Then several guards enter with a huge spool of rope and place it next to the well.
"Well, get that rope down there quick, I want to know what happened down there!"
'Tarrik, you'd better have that beast's head or the king will have yours!'
Meanwhile, back at the Well, Klein's point of view.
Commander Tarrik says: "Don't split up anymore, he's taking us out a few at a time, did any of you see which passageway he went down?"
The seven remaining guards look at each other before shaking their heads. Tarrik takes one last look down the shaft, but seeing nothing, turns back to studying the five passageways.
Knight Commander Tarrik says, "We will hold our position here until we get help, he won't try to attack us all at once!"
I laugh and throw the two daggers I took from the dead soldiers.
MP: 120/205
"Thud" "Thud" "Thud!"
As the two soldiers fall with daggers in their throats, the rest turn around to try to see where they came from. I slowly walk in circles in the shadows looking for an opening.
A terrified soldier says, "This isn't a beastman! It's a demon!" and runs off into the darkness dropping his torch behind him.
"Hmm, only four of you left, this is getting boring. I think it's time to end this."
I step into the light holding a soldier's sword in each hand. The four soldiers grip their weapons tightly but do not move.
The knight commander Tarrik says, "What are you waiting for, kill him in the name of the king!"
The four soldiers slowly approach me and disperse to surround me, while I stand there waiting quietly. I really should have practiced with two swords before this.
But it always looked so cool in the anime, so I have to try it. I suddenly take a step forward raising both swords and then turn while stretching my arms.
"Cut" "Cut" "Cut" "Cut" "Cut"
⟨⟨-DING-⟩⟩
- Congratulations, you have acquired the combat skill Sword Dancer!
√ Sword Dancer
√ Level 1
- Movement speed +5% Damage +5% when wielding two swords.
- You dance the dance of death when wielding two swords.
"What an amazing skill, it worked better than I expected!"
Knight Commander Tarrik blinks and rubs his eyes. He can't believe he has seen four of his soldiers felled in an instant by a mere beastman. He stares stupidly at me as I approach him.
"You're his commander aren't you?"
Knight Commander Tarrik says, "Um, uh, yeah?"
-Then why were you always hiding behind them? I say you're a coward!
Knight Commander Tarrik says, "I'm the Knight Commander of His Majesty's forces! Dealing with a piece of trash like you is..."
"DEAF NOISE!"
"Oh, sorry to interrupt, were you saying something?"
The head lying on the ground, of course, does not respond. I quickly locate the soldier who has escaped, I find him in the mushroom area trying to crawl through one of the arches let through by the stream. I grab him by the back of the neck and lift him up, quickly remove his weapons and armor, and his bag of coins and leave him against the wall.
"If you answer my questions I will let you live."
The terrified soldier says, "All right."
"What kingdom is this?"
Terrified soldier says, "The Kingdom of Revalia."
"What is the name of the king?"
Terrified soldier says, "King Raden Feldster I."
"What city is above us?"
Terrified soldier says, "The King's City, although it used to be called Emberly after the founding queen."
"I found some living women down here captured by the goblins, how did they get here?"
A terrified soldier says, "Some of the nobles use the well to get rid of toys they no longer use; those who want them to suffer give them a slow fall spell first."
"Do you know the names of those nobles?" my voice comes out as a threatening growl.
The terrified soldier says, "N-No, I'm just a commoner. I don't know any of the nobles!"
I will definitely find out the names of those nobles and when I do, they will die. preferably slowly!
"Very well, I'll keep my word and you can live."
Terrified soldier says, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"But you must deliver a message to the king. Tell him that the beast man says this trash will be the last thing he will ever see in his life."
Terrified soldier says, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say!"
"All right, get out of here."
Terrified soldier says, "Um, I don't know the way!"
I sigh and lift the soldier up and carry him to the well, now there is a rope hanging there. I push the soldier towards the rope.
"Wait."
I pick up Tarrik's head and tie it to the soldier's belt.
-Get that to the king, now go!
The terrified soldier jumps up, grabs the rope and starts climbing as if all the demons in hell are after him. I grab the bottom of the rope and stand under the well watching until the soldier disappears. As I expected, a few minutes later the rope starts to climb, I wait until it tightens and pull it with all my strength.
Then I step aside and wait, a few seconds later two bodies fall to the ground followed by the rope spindle. I gather all the rope and start gathering all the corpses, after stripping them naked I pile them directly under the well. At least if more people hit the ground, they might have a softer landing.
Meanwhile, in the Throne Room, Marvok's point of view.
Once I am sure that no attack is taking place, the king returns to the throne room to receive my report. I tell the king everything that has happened and all the details.
King Raden says, "Why would you summon an adventuring wizard to the castle?"
"Because with all the court wizards dead and Zamart missing, we have no one who can cast spells to determine what really happened, Your Majesty."
The king is about to respond when one of the royal guards shouts that someone is climbing up the rope. We all turn to watch the well expectantly to see if Tarrik has succeeded. When they help the soldier out of the well and we see his terrified face and head tied to his belt, everyone is shocked.
King Raden says, "Soldier report! Where are your comrades, what happened to Tarrik?"
Terrified soldier says "All dead, your majesty! That monster killed everyone!"
King Raden says "What, impossible!"
-So how did you survive, soldier?
Terrified soldier says "He let me live to deliver the head and a message to Your Majesty."
King Raden says "What message?"
Terrified soldier says: "He told me to tell you 'This garbage will be the last thing you ever see!"
King Raden says "WHAT!!! You dare! The guards kill this coward!"
One of the royal guards immediately approaches and draws his sword, to everyone's surprise the soldier doesn't try to run, in fact he even looks peaceful as he is decapitated.
"No one else is coming, pull the rope and prepare to seal the well."
Two royal guards begin to pull the rope, but seconds later they both
scream as they are dragged into the well and the reel holding the rope is released.
Everyone is paralyzed with surprise, then the king begins to scream and shout.
King Raden shouts, "I'll send a thousand soldiers after him! There won't be any safe place anywhere that scum can hide from me!"
I watch the king rant and rave, and wonder if Zamart foresaw this and that's why he disappeared.