Monty's story

A Familiar Story

Prologue:

As the crew of the Sea’s Rose made their way back towards their boat after their alchemical escapade, one of them, the bardic Vor Stel, felt a tapping on his shoulder, specifically a tapping coming from the pouch he kept his familiar, the mongoose he had come to name “Monty” in.
Upon feeling this, Vor turned his head towards the satchel, though not before stopping his stretching to loosen up. He back cracked relaxingly with the stretch...after breaking his most recent fall with his spine, he was not particularly in the best of moods, as he looked towards his familiar. "Need something Monty?" the bard asked.
Monty came out of his pack, and sat down on the bard’s shoulder, his fur looking much more black than usual. "Just....thinking of my friend. Doing some reading. And making a few calls to an old friend. That was quite the situation we were in back there. You got me quite nervous.” Vor let out a cocky smile. "Well, to be honest with ya, Monty, when I decided to join this little band of sailors to keep a watch over Tasha, I thought it was going to be an ordinary thing. You know. Not hunting vampires, devils, divine beasts, and Sarenre-knows what else.”
Monty gave Vor a knowing grin. “Indeed my friend. Are we not going to, how you say, embolcalla aquesta aplicació? Or are we going to be sticking around with these, sailor-types for a while?” Vor looked at his companion, and tried his best to reassure him. "They're good people Monty. They’re different to say the least, but I think they're still good nonetheless. So, I think we'll be stickin’ with them for a while. Plus, we still have a few names to cross off our little list here." Vor then proceeded to pull out a leather notebook that looks to be old, and flip through the pages.
Monty seemed to pay little attention to what For said, however. ““Ehhh.” the mongoose sighed. “ I have had....less than enjoyable experiences with these....adventurer types before. You're not the first person to throw me without regard for my own sanity. Though I do like there ship. It's nice.”
Vor continued to look through his old notebook. "Well, in my defense,” he began “I honestly didn't think expect that Tasha lass would leap out the window onto that demon we fought; like we did back at the Void Chaser estate. Remember that one Monty? The big slave smuggling and selling ring we crashed?" The mongoose cracked another smile. “Yes, yes. The one with the mages who turned ethereal. And the one you collected the bounty on, when the second one got away~.”
Vor sighed at the air. It certainly hasn't been intestinal, on his part. The two of them had been quite skilled wizards. Ad while he had snagged the body of the primary mage, the second one took a few poisoned arrows, but had managed to teleport away. If he ever found her again, he fully intended to finish the job. But until then, the donut still lingered in his mind. And Monty’s taunting did not help the matter.
“ “You’d be surprised at what I’ve seen people survive, my friend. You survived a town burning down on you. Twice. And I once had a friend who drank a gallon of, what is it you call it, Whimsical Grog, every week.”
Vor opened his mouth for a rebubble against his cocky familiar, but stopped himself when he caught sight of his pet. Monty wasn’t looking at him. Vor followed his vision, and found that the mongoose was looking directly ahead of them...towards the captain of the ship that the two of them had most recently joined. The tiefling calling himself Laviticus. Almost...studying him.
Vor turned back towards the mongoose on his shoulder. “Hey Monty,” he asked, concern suddenly abundant in his voice. “You seem to be staring awfully hard at Mr Cutlass up there. Something caught your eye about him” Monty simply narrowed his eyes at the tiefling. “I.....do not know.”
The mongoose jumped on top of Vor’s head to get a better look at Leviticus, before looking down at Vor. “Don’t you think he looks like you?”
Vor’s eyebrowned crossed. “No? What makes you think that?
“Well, he looks like something I used to serve. Or...maybe someone that they know. I have no memory of him. But...I feel like I do. Maybe it is just the other Monty’s talking”



Vor’s face grew with even more confusion as he looked up at the mongoose, who seemed to drop down to his shoulder again to avoid embarrassment. “Other....Monty’s?” Vor asked, curiously. Monty looked back at Vor, with embarrassment upon his face. He should not have said that.
“Would you mind explaining that comment, or?” Monty facepalmed. “I, uhhh. Well. Humm. How do I explain this.......”
“You're not the first human I’ve had to watch over.”

Vor’s expression shifted from confusion to concern. “So there's other people out there with the fancy music, the magical powers and th- “
“No no no;” Cut in the mongoose. “You're the first in that line. But I’ve known a few mortals before you. Your still my #1 priority, however!“
Vor folded his arms, as monty continued to look embarrassed. “Well, would you care to share some light on who these past friends were, and how Lavi reminds you of me and them?” Moty tried to look as apologetic as possible.“I...I didn’t mean to mention it to my friend. Do not think that you are not my main concern right now. Because you are. Your friend there....reminds me of someone a friend of mine used to know. Very well. But I do not want you to be worrying about some of my former owners if you have bigger things on your mind.
Vor rolled his eyes at that. “Your past friends aren't high up on my list of concerns. You forget, not only am i having to deal with everything with the crew, and most of all, my wife, Mira, being pregnant. Sometimes I regret leaving her back at Quent, but there wasn't going to be a chance in hell i'd bring her along. I'm just waiting for the day I get that sending spell.....”
Monty’s posture seemed to entirely change as Vor suddenly began to rant about his back and wife. When Vor looked back at him, he had crossed his arms in a huff. “Well...well fine then. Don’t worry about me. We’re....we’re not a team or anything....” Monty’s fur seams to turn more and more a dark blue/black. “ I suppose I’ll have to deal with this by myself then...” Vor sighed. His back was still sore. He really didn’t want to have to deal with this right now. "Listen, Monty, I..... “ But before he could respond, Monty simply waved his hands in the air, before poofing away to parts unknown.
Vor stood there, lagging behind the rest of the group for a brief moment as he contemplated what had happened. Without Monty, he'd be out of power for the time being. But this was hardly the first time that Monty had poofed away like this.
The sound of Leviticus sneezing broke Vor out of his trance, and caused the bard to fall back in line with the rest of the sailors. “Monty will be back soon enough.” he thought to himself. He always was.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Gunshots. Screams. Explosions. Numedian alarms blaring through the entire Imperial Palace. A clusterfuck of epic proportions. Most soldiers would probably look at their current situation, and begin contemplating their retirement after such a career ending blunder. But for the Hellknights of Sierra Company, on loan as the bodyguards to Senator Nontrivical, who had spent the last several months telling Osirion tourists that Parliament was in session, this was exhilarating.

Bang!

A massive cocofanty of fire, smoke, and shot exploded out of the royal musketeer’s standing to the left and right of Maralictor Kathi, their rifles producing a blinding butt of smoke, as they blasted a reverberating echo through the halls of the Imperial Palace, as the sounds of the disturbance seemed to echo throughout the entire unholy ground of the Palace that had become the charge of the Scourged Hellknights over the last few months.

“Can you see it?” came the cry of the musketeers to her left. It was Armiger Johan, a human with deep ginger hair, and one of the newest recruits to the order, currently frantically attempting to reload his musket. “Nay!” came the response from her other shoulder, Armiger Krim, an older elf with bulky shoulders, and arms nearly as long as his weapon. “We might’ve scared it off.”

“Anything capable enough to invade the Imperial Palace is not going to be scared off by a few stray musket rounds.” came Kathi’s orders, as she extended an ear towards the direction of the commotion. But Johan beat her to it. “Residential Quarter!” he shouted, snapping his ramrod to the left, like that of a baton, before hurriedly stowing it back upon his weapon as quickly as he could. “Perhaps we should ambush it?

Kathi walked over to her comrade-in-arms, her metal skin clanging along next to the musketeer, and placed upon Armiger’s heavy chainmail armor, her own armored glove that, even were it not encasing her metal skin, formed part of her massive suit of Hellknight plate armor that was entirely oblivious to the concept of stealth.

“P-point taken, Maralictor,” came the slightly-less-bravado-filled response, as the two of them filed in behind Armiger Krim, musket raised, as the three of them filed in after the cacophony racketing throughout the Imperial Palace.

The three Hellknights ran through the hallways of the Imperial Palace, following the sounds of combat, and magical spells as they closed in on their target. To their surprise, they soon found that the foe they chanced was smaller than they expected. Much, much smaller. Krim had called out what it was as they rounded the corner into the main dining hall, but it took until Kathi lay her own eyes upon their target, a target that was currently attempting to Counterspell a magically locked door in the dining hall, that she truly had a moment to process what she heard.
“A mongoose?!”
The target was small. About Two feet long, with a bit more length considering it’s tail. It looked to be about the size of a small housecat, though it’s fur appeared to be a very non-mongoose-y black. It’s hands were alight with magic, with magical glyphs appearing in mid-air, as the tiny creature appeared to weave magic around the door, and curse in its native language. Kathi stared at the creature, dumbstruck.
Both Johan and Krim looked at their Paralictor, and, after exchanging a confused look, both readyed their rifles, and fired on the tiny pest. But the mongoose was ready, as both musketballs seemed to hit an invisible shelter, about a foot out from the creature, revealing bits of spiderweb webbing, shielding the Mongoose, as the creature turned around, and expelled a massive shower of glitter at the three Hellknights!
The bang from the muskets was enough to snap Kathi out of her self-imposed trance of confusion, only to be blinded as a shower of glitter engulfed her ocular sensors, automatically triggering a whirling wiper blade that attempted to clear her vision of the glitter. But it was too little, too late, as, without sight to work with, Katih heard the mongoose leap up onto the nearly dinner table, to around chest height, and begin taunt the Hellknights, as it readyed another spell. “I regret teaching that....bard such limited spells.” it spoke. “But I should not need much more than ‘dis to dispatch you. No hard feelings, mon amie?” What happened next, happened fast. Kath heard a yelp to her left, and the sound of a spell expelling out from the mongoose. She smelt the telltale smell of acid burning through metal, but yet...felt no pain herself. “Idiot Human!” came the reply from the mongoose, as it let out another blast of acid, accompanied by a scream, but this time, the smell was not of metal, but of burning flesh.
As her wipers cleared the last of the dust from her eyes, Kathi felt the smell of acid and flesh fall to the floor. Looking down, she saw Armiger Johan, face down on the floor, an acidic hole burned through his chest, inside of which stood the mongoose, looking as cocky as ever.



Kathi’s eyes lit with red vengeance as the Paralictor drew her blade, and brought it down upon the mongoose, only for the small animal to dodge harmlessly out of the way, as Krim readyed another shot from his musket. ”Your blade is slow, puta!” came his taunting, as he whipped another spell upon his own form, turning himself invisible. Kathi transferred her sword to her off hand as she began to incite the words for a See Invisibility spell, but before she was able to get it off, a loud banging upon her helmet broke her concentration, the mongoose smashing it’s tiny's hands upon her head, creating a dizzying racket that made it impossible to concentrate .
This ferocious banging caused Kathi to unceremoniously drop her blade to the floor, as she reached up to grab the creature that was now standing on top of her. “Get off of me!” she shouted, only to be forced off balance as the mongoose grabbed onto her helm, and, with the help of it’s unusually heavy bodyweight, began to rock her neck back and forth, almost riding her like a bull. “Esti d'épais à marde!” came the response from on top of her, as he continued to force her off balance. Kathi rotated her head to the left, and back to the right, in an attempt to get the creature off of her, only to end up locking eyes with Krim, musket raised, and aimed directly at her face. Before she could shoot “Don’t shoot!” Kathi heard a familiar explosion of gunpowder and shot, as a musket ball went clear through her forehead, resulting in the android crashing directly to the ground.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the musketeer fired upon him, Monty jumped back towards the table, causing the elf to shoot his ally, and cause the armored knight he had been using as a platform to tumble down to the ground, atop of his first target. Seeing his commander fall appeared to be enough to shaken the resolve of the elf, who once again, began to franticly load his musket. Monty did his best to prevent the final musketeer from keeping a eye on him, as the mongoose darted across the dinner table, and jumped back into his invisible Web Shelter spell, a shell that, for now, absorbed the inevitable shot, but was getting rather...porous for Monty’s tastes.
As the musketeer loaded another shot, Monty looked back through all his magical knowledge, and attempted to find a spell that would get him out of the current situation. Identify? Alarm? Water Breathing? Ventriloquism? His options were rather limited. As the musketeer finished loading his weapon, and aimed it at what remained of the Web Shelter, Monty finally made the choice to turn his fur entirely black, and, shrinking in size as his old whiskers returned, dove under the crack in the doorway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bang!
The flint of Krim’s rifle impacted with the tray of gunpowder, firing a musket ball that absolutely destroyed what remained of the spiderweb shelter that the mongoose was hiding in....probably. It also produced even more smoke, enough to prevent even his keen elven eyes from seeing more than five feet in front of him. With such low visibility, Krim didn’t dare risk loading his rifle again, rather, the elf drew his bayonet from the left pocket of his uniform jacket, and affixed the blade to the end of his musket, producing a makeshift spear.
The elf advanced into the smoke, a weapon held in front of him...ready to thrust, but the smoke from all the musket-fire butted his vision. He saw movement, and stabbed forward...only to hit dust and echoes. The elf looked down at the bodys below him, including his commander that he had shot accidently, and attempted to step over the bodys with the utmost care. By the time that Krim looked up, however, his eyes landed squarely upon the longsword which had suddenly manifested itself directly in front of him. The smoke still obscured its wielder, but Krim was still able to make out the basic shape of a female humanoid, with tight, form-fitting black leather armor, with a jet-black cat sitting on her shoulder, a cat that looked remarkably familiar.....
Krim attempted to pull his rifle up to parry the blade near his face, but his assailant thrust forward, causing the elf to stumble backwards, and nearly trip over his commander, still laying upon the ground. The women with the sword surged forward, as Krim moved his weapon to intercept her blade....success! The female’s blade clanged against the wrought iron barrel of his musket. Krim continued to stumble backwards, but this parry gave him a renewed vigor! He grasped his musket in both hands, stood up, locked eyes with the new threat; and promptly fell over, as a piercing, searing pain impaled him from behind. This final thrust was enough to overpower his already exhausted body, and Krim slumped down to the floor. The last thing he heard, a mocking laugh from behind him.
Ting! Slash! Bink!
Kathi opened her eyes, to the sounds of metal striking on metal. She lay on the ground, the lifeless bodies of both Krim and Johan lying atop and around her, her ocular display awash with damage reports, error messages, and the blurry movement of dueling swashbuckler around her. With a grunt of effort,Kathi attempted to push the corpse of Krim off of her, and with a surge of nanite-filled energy, accomplished this task. Taking a look at her former companion, Kathi saw that Armiger Krim’s armor appeared to have been slashed and burnt with magical fire. Seconds later, Kathi was able to compute the source of the wound, a rapier, made of pure fire, currently impaling a dark skinned, leather armored fetchling girl in the chest.
The wielder of the flaming rapier had a deep, red skin, even more than a standard tiefling. He had brown boots, grey suit plants, and the coat adornments of a Chelaxian admiral. His strong, almost claw-like grip upon his blade was contrasted by his other hand, in which he held onto the body of a small black cat with the utmost gentleness, even as it clawed at him furiously.
Withdrawing his flaming rapier from the dark-skinned women as she crumpled to the floor, the tiefling turned towards Kathi, as the Hellknight stared blankly back at him, as she furiously searched her mental logs to determine who this newcomer was. It took her but a second to find his name, but the tiefling certainly frowned as he noticed the uncharacteristic pause from his hired help. “H-High Admiral Citor Nontrivical!” Kathi spoke, deeply bowing down towards the son of the women she had been hired to protect.

Kathi felt Citor’s eyes fall upon her, but, perhaps thankfully, the High Admiral's recent duel appeared to have made him more amibitable. With a flourish, Citor extinguished his blade, and placed it upon her shoulder with a serene gentlemanly grace. “Rise, Knight of Hell.” he commanded, as Kathi stood to her feet, eyes level with those of Citor.
For a moment, the two of them paused, Kathi unsure of how to respond, until the groaning from the leather-clad lady on the ground signaled to the Hellknight that perhaps she ought to move to secure the room that her liege’s heir currently stood inside of.
“M-moving to secure!” Kathi said, withdrawing a pair of handcuffs from her belt, and quickly moving to cuff the women lying on the ground. “A fine idea!~” spoke Citor, his voice equally appreciative, and condescending, still holding the struggling cat in his hand, now dangering it by its tail as it screamed in pain. “Any idea who our friend is, Maralictor?”
Kathi pulled the arms and legs of the women behind her back, and began securing her arms with handcuffs,, and her legs with a set of fetters. “No Sir!” she responded, with as official of a tone as she could muster. “We heard magic, and then moved in from the main hallway into the Residential Quarter as quickly as we could, before we cornered it in this dining room. We located the target, it appeared to be some sort of mongoose, but not before I was knocked to the ground, and we sustained heavy casualties attempting to--
“--Sustained acceptable losses before I had to swoop in and save the day, I know, I know.” spoke Citor, cutting into her report. “Still doesn't explain who this little bugger is, though.” Citor held the cat up with one hand, and with the other, withdrew a wand from his coat pocket. Kathi heard the High Admiral speak a magic word, and suddenly let out a laughter of terrifying joy as the cat he was holding slowly morphed back into a Mongoose. “Merde....” came the response.
Kathi finished binding the captive as Citor aimed the wand at the mongoose he now held much more tightly. “Who are you?” What are you doing here? And what do you want with my cousin!”
Cousin. Kathi looked back towards the captive she had bound. Dark, exterplainiar skin. A deep, cauterised wound on her midsection. She looked nothing like the High Admiral. But she had learned long ago to not ask too many questions when dealing with Chillaxin politics. Still, the mongoose remained defiant. “Oh me? I am just a poor delivery boy. Here to give you a nice case of la bitte. The mongoose remained cocky, despite it’s bondage. “Oh sir, Please let me go. I will be late for my next delivery. I have many deliveries to make, and you're just holding up the service for everyone.”



Citor squeezed the mongoose with both his hands as the two of them continued to exchange words. Kathi walked over to the High Admiral, and moved in front of him, and silently saluted as Citor continued to squeeze the animal. A part of her mind felt sorry for the animal in the High Admiral's hands. So small, and helpless. It wanted her to draw her sword and smite the High Adamaral down where he stood. Alas, Kathi had learned that at times, especially when working for chillaxin nobles, it was best to turn off certain emotions. To allow her artificial side to shine through more. It wasn’t pleasant. Purely practical. Or at least....that was how she justified it to herself.
Citor ceased squeezing the mongoose, and turned towards Kathi. “Hellknight.” he addressed her as. Kathi turned to respond, though that same part of her mind nearly vomited as it saw Citor smiling an evil smile. “Prepare the torcure chamber. I think I have some questions for this...this....Dusk.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several hours had passed.
Kathi stood outside the large iron vault of a room that she had been ordered to drag Citor’s “Cousin” into. Citor himself had also entered the soundproofed room along with the small, furry animal he had seemingly named. That had been several hours ago. Or perhaps days. The entire dungeon had been enchanted with a minor aura of sustenance, removing the need for food, drink, and almost eliminating the need for rest or sleep all together. This, combined with her metallic body, made her vigilance all but eternal, but also made the counting of hours virtually impossible.
Silence. Ghostly silence. The lower tunnels underneath the Imperial Palace were well-maintained, so the drip of water, or the whisper of wind was all but extinguished. The soil was salted to prevent growth and deter burrowing animals, resulting in the only sound that Kathi could hear in the nearly empty dungeons being the faint ambience of life, far above, in the surface above. The chink of glass. The thud of a large, heavy object. A half spoken word. And perhaps even a faint ringing inside of her own ears.
Footsteps. Armored footsteps. Metallic armored footsteps. Against the hard, stone floor of the dungeons. Piercing the oppressive silence of the well-maintained dungeon; like cannonballs through the side of a ship. Kathi placed an armored hand upon her blade in anticipation, but her paranoia proved to be unfounded, as an elderly human, wearing Order of the Scourge Hellknight plate rounded a corner and appeared in her field of view.


Kathi instinctively raised up a arm to salute, but was surprised when the new hellknight did the same. Both hellknights aqualrdly saltured one another for a full second, before the newcomer broke the silence. “Maralictor Calios!” he responded. Kathi breathed a sigh of relief as she lowered her salute “Maralictor Kathi.”

The elderly human also lowered his salute, and appeared to crack a smile at her response as he walked over. “Well that made me feel a bit silly, didn’t it?” Kathi nodded as the equal-rank hellknight walked over to her, as she once again searched her database of enlisted Hellknights in search of this newcomer’s face. “Still learning the names of everyone in Sierra.”
“Didn’t think you androids ever had issues remembering people, eh?” spoke Calios, as Kathi continued to stare at her, still searching her memory banks of enlisted personnel in search of this newcomer. “Sorry!” spoke Calios. “That's a bit racist of me. And I’m not with Sierra. I’m here on a more...permanent basis. I’m the personal blademaster for the Senator's kids.
This comment caused kathi to redefine her search to Senator Nontrivical’s personal staff, and, within a few cycles, discovered her file on the person she was talking to. “Right!” Kahi responded, trying her best to sound semi-natural. “Maralictor Calios. Under employ from Paralictor Moorthif, yes?” “Officially yes.” came the response. “But mostly ceremonial nowadays. Moonthrift and Lavical don’t exactly have a happy relationship these days anymore, and Citor hardly calls on me anymore...after everything that’s happened.” “What do you mean?” asked Kathi.
“Well,” spoke Calios. “He was quite the skilled young boy. Bit of an angry upstart. Skilled in swordsmanship. But could never really integrate into noble life when he was younger. He was charismatic and skilled, but he never really got the attention from his parents that he deserved. Sad state of affairs it was. It’s probably why he ran away from home about a decade ago.”
“Are you talking about the High Admiral?” questioned Kathi. “He seems well liked.” “Yes!” exclaimed Calios. “ We hadn't heard from him for decades! A few scattered reports here and there, but as far as I knew, Citor was as good as dead. But, then, suddenly, a few months ago he just...reappeared! Surrendered himself to the guards on charges of treason, but he was an entirely different person! All of a sudden, he was the spitting image of his mother, as if he had never left chillaxin politics! To the point that he was acquitted of all charges! And promoted to High Admiral.”
“Of course, he refuses to elaborate to me where he’s been, and he only ever speaks to his mom nowadays. Lavical! I don’t understand it. That boy wanted to bite off his mother’s head when he ran away from his birthright a decade ago, and now, the two of them couldn't be closer..... It’s almost like he’s an entirely different person!”
“There's always a chance he could be,” responded Kathi. “Could be a doppelganger. And there's plenty of magic that can change a person's face. Have you spoken to any of the court mages about it?” Calios opened his mouth to sigh, but then looked back towards Kathi, and answered “.....Yes. I understand that you are only here temporarily, so you are not expected to know this, but douseing people in Antimagic is standard procedure around here. Moonthrift and I have tried everything under the son to unmask Citor. But nothing worked. He’s not a shapeshifter, he’s not an illusion, he’s not being mind controlled. It’s the same Citor from all those years ago. But he’s just got a different brain this time around. “
Before Kathi chould respond to Calios, sound began to emanate from the soundproofed torture room. The sound of metal on metal, and latches being unlocked. This caught the attention of both Hellknights, who turned towards the vault-like door that began to slowly open with the haste of a bank vault door.
The first to exit was of course, Citor, still holding the mongoose from before. Kathi could see that the animal was still alive, though its previous deminor appeared to have entirely vanished. As Citor walked out, the ebony-skinned women that Citor had referred to as Cousin '' followed them. She was entirely nude, and covered in cuts and scars, but was neither handcuffed, nore shackled. Seeing this, both Kathi and Calios drew restraints, but Citor waved them off. “No need.” he spoke. “We had a very nice conversation in their...and I don’t think they all that much left of her up in her head. Honestly, I rather like her like this.”
Again, the emotional centre of Kathi’s brain exploded with an urge for her to do something to her evil, evil, employer, but once again, she forced herself to resist, as Citor turned towards Calios, who gave a reflexive salute. “Gather the rest of the Hellknights into Conference room #7.” Calios nodded, and maintained his salute. “For what purpose, Master Nontrivical?” he asked. Citor smiled. “For a debriefing of recent events.”-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The meeting had only lasted a mere two hours, but even then, questions were beginning to pour into Citor as he explained all that information he had extracted from the familiar to the security staff of the Imperial Palace. Maps and charts lay out across the conference room table as Citor continued his speech:
.......... resulting in the destruction of an innocent local alchemical shop, a building that the crew of this “Sea’s Rose” then thoughtly looted. The amount of wealth, firepower,not to mention influence, that each of these privateers command is immense, which even a single one of them is equivalent to a small army. Which is why it is imperative that they be destroyed as soon as possible. Any questions?”

Citor sighed as an ocean of hands went up. This was going to be a long meeting. “You!” he spoke, pointing randomly into the crowd, causing one of the hellknights to stand up. “These pirates...how long have they slipped under our gaze like this? Why have we not heard of them before now?”
Citor answered “The Nontrivical family has known about this group for many years now, however, the nature of colonial politics had made it rather difficult to keep track of all the illegal activities going on in the Shackles. However, because our intelligence on this group is rather current, and we would be wise to capitalize on this as soon as possible.”

Another hand raised. “What is going to be sent?” Citor answered “We are going to send a strike force. Only the best of the best of you will be chosen...we do not have the magical prowess to send an army. But fear not! My ships, the Dominator, and the Lavical, will soon complete their retrofit in the dockyards, and, within the year, chellian control over her old colonies will be restored!”
“If we’re sending an armada, why send a strike force?”
Citor’s head began to hurt. “Because it is imperative that we destroy the Sea’s Rose as soon as possible. As I said, they, along with a number of other free captains, possess enough firepower to level an entire port. As a result, a surgical strike is needed..cutting off the different heads of the beast before the body itself falls.
“But if we’re going for a leadership strike, why not go after Bonefist? Isn’t he King of the whole crowd of pirates down there?”
Citor sighed. “We ARE going after Bonefist. Eventually. However, our current intel is about the Sea’s Rose, and so, in order to capitalize on this intel, we are striking THEM. Afterwards, we can strike OTHER important targets.”
This caused a low hum of discussion to float over the table from all the different hellknights, resulting in Citor’s headache getting worse. This is why he hated working with Hellknights. Loyal and efficient? Yes. But also logical to a fault. Ordering hellknights around was like programing a golem. You needed to tell them exactly what to do, and why they were doing it. The large number of androids and other artificials within their ranks was a side consequence of this type of collective thinking that Hellknight companies often produced.
In fact, it was one of these artificials that caught Citor’s ear as he listened in to the low whispers of the crowd. One android, Citor recognized it as the same android that had failed to capture the familiar from before, was having a whispered conversation to the hellknight to it’s left, Citor’s old dueling trainer, Calios. Calios responded also in whisper, but just loud enough for Citor to overhear: “....probably because the Sea’s Rose is captained by that tiefling fellow, who looks just like...”
“CALIOS!” shouted Citor, letting loose a massive screaming wave that silenced everyone else in the room from its volume alone, and freezing Calios and his conversation partner in their tracks. “I do not give TWO SHITS if the captain of some RANDOM, UNIMPORTANT, INFENTENSIVELY SMALL, and ILLEGAL ship just HAPPENS to have a SLIGHT resemblance to me! “
“Laviti....” Citor caught himself before he spoke. “.....This ship captain is unimportant. His name is unimportant. All I care about is that he, and the rest of his crew, die. Is that understood, Maralictor Calios?”
Calios gave a very official nod and salute before sitting back down. Good” spoke Citor. “Because your going to be the one leading the charge.” Citor saw Calios’s eyes widen, before he slumped down into his chair, and accepted his fate.
“Now then” spoke Citor, back towards the wider group of Hellknights. “Any other takers?” “Yes.” spoke a voice from the back., as a drow, floated out from the mass of hellknights, and, tentacled staff in hand, floated down, next to Calios. At the same time, seeing their commanders Volunteer for such a deadly mission, a large handful of lower ranked Hellknights suddenly began stepping forward, one after another. This made Citor smile. In fact, he smiled enough that he let out a single, solitary clap towards his newly developed expeditionary force. “Right then!” spoke Citor, standing up from his chair. “This seems like a fine match for those Sea’s Rose fellows,” Citor spoke, as he withdrew a solitary piece of paper from his jacket. “But let's make sure we throw the odds in our favor!~”
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