Conflicts at the Castle

"Alright, then let's start with…." Isabella didn't finish her sentence as she abruptly turned her head behind her towards the small room where Saibus had woken up. From there, three people come out. These three people wear clothes with a cross as a symbol.

The first is a 1m95 man with caramel skin. He is bald, brown eyes paired with high arched eyebrows. His curved mouth, combined with the other elements of his face, gives him an angry look. He wears chain mail over light plate armor. Above his armor was a thin white hooded fabric with a red cross on his chest. He has a bastard sword at his waist, presumably his only weapon.

The man steps forward and bows to the mistress of the castle and Saibus and Yennefer.

"Hello, my Ladies and my Sieur. I am Sieur Robert de Sablé, knight and here are my colleagues Haytham Kenway and François-Thomas Germain." Robert introduces himself and his friends, who greet the castle's residents.

Haytham has short black hair. He has dark eyes and arched eyebrows. Unlike Robert, he doesn't seem angry but is a severe and patient person. His outfit gives him the profession of a ship captain and noble. He wears a long black coat and a black cape. His open jacket reveals a red garment underneath. Her outfit ends with simple white pants and brown leather boots. At his waist, two rounded swords stick to their sheaths.

Finally, the last man who stands a little apart is designated by Robert as François-Thomas Germain. François-Thomas is a man of 1m80. He has black hair that can be seen under his hood. His piercing blue eyes make him look treacherous. He wears a long brown coat with an open hood. Below, a green shirt with a black button is below a white top with a black tie.

(Picture Robert)

(Picture Haytham)

(Image François-Thomas)

"Hello, Gentlemen. What can I do for you?" Isabella directly asks for her new uninvited intentions.

"With my companions, we were traveling in Skellige when François-Thomas felt powerful magic emitted in this mountain range untamed by man. After reflection, we decided to climb and travel the mountain range to investigate and discover the reason for this burst of magic." Says Robert de Sablé.

"Well, I am the author of this magic. I used a powerful spell to defend myself against a being who wanted to kill me. Given its power, I had to fight back with force.

Haytham then approached. "Can you tell us the spell that caused such an explosion because, as far as I know, there is no such spell that would not cause massive destruction?"

"The spell is a family spell, so I don't share any information about it," Isabella responds aggressively, looking at everyone in the room.

"Sorry for asking you about family lore."

"Don't worry, if you don't ask again, I can't blame you because you didn't know. But let's not talk about that anymore, come and sit down. There's tea and biscuits. As a host, I must provide you with a guest privilege.

Robert, Haytham, and François settle down on one of the free sofas in the living room.

The house lady makes a hand gesture that reveals three cups of tea. She pours tea into them and presents them to her three new guests.

They take their cups and taste their tea.

"But how did you come here?" asks Yennefer.

"We got here by teleportation. We walked for several hours without success. So I decided to try to teleport us as a last try. The spell connected to a place that I did not know. We deduced that it must be because of the powerful residual magic and that the spell would take us instead of the source of magic." Answers François, who so far has been silent and throwing dark looks at Saibus.

"Hm, interesting. I should research this topic in the future." Isabella muses aloud.

The discussion continues for long minutes, where the six people present in the living room talk to each other. But during this discussion, tension slowly builds between Robert, Haytham, François, and Saibus. Robert and Haytham are hostile to Saibus but remain courteous. They only make harsh responses against Saibus. While François only speaks to criticize the words of Saibus.

Annoyed, Saibus ends up confronting François.

"François-Thomas, I can know why you have shown blatant hostility and hatred against me when this is the first time we have met."

Saibus asks with a mixture of weariness and anger in his voice.

Isabella and Yennefer then turn their gaze to François-Thomas for an answer to his hostile obsession with their husband and guest.

François-Thomas then goes to speak but is prevented by Robert, who nudges him and glares.

"Sorry for my friend, but François is a kind of misanthrope and, above all, hates the elves who massacred his family. He also hates, by extension, half-elves like you. We tried to make him understand that Life isn't all white or black. That there are good and bad elves and good and bad humans. But as you can see, that has no effect." Robert declares wearily and with a worried expression for his friend.

"As Robert said, François is worth an inexplicable hatred against elves and half-elves. He normally manages to control himself, but it becomes difficult for him to control himself because of recent events. I think we will conclude our meeting here." Says Haytham standing up.

Robert makes a bow to his host and Saibus and Yennefer, while François gets up and greets only the mistress of the house. Then, Robert and Haytham begin to walk towards the small room they entered with François-Thomas in tow. But the closer François-Thomas gets to the door, the more he slows down to stop a few meters from it.

Robert opens the door and turns around. He looks at his partner, and his face slowly breaks down. This intrigues and worries Saibus, Isabella, and Yennefer, who see Robert's face becoming increasingly pale. This also worries them a little because, according to the little conversations they had with him, he is a brave knight who is not afraid of many things and who is not weak.

Robert then runs at full speed in the direction of François-Thomas.

"Haytham, the syringe! QUICK." Robert yells at Haytham as he rushes toward his colleagues.

While Robert is running, Haytham, after seeing Robert walks past him and orders him. He takes a syringe out of his coat. The syringe contains a light yellow liquid. Haytham then runs slowly towards François, being very careful of the needle.

During this short lapse of five seconds, François-Thomas has raised his hand, and a mighty wind rushes at Robert, who, despite his armor, is thrown into the wall.

François seeing Haytham still far from him creates a ball of fire.

'CRACKLING'

'SPLASH'

François doesn't have time to throw his fireball because he feels a wave of water collides with his back, which throws him to the side. A flash of lightning comes into contact with the water, creating a current that goes up towards him and electrocutes him.

François-Thomas is no longer moving. Haytham approaches slowly. He arrives at his level and looks at his eyes. He sees that they are closed, which lets him sigh. He, therefore, injects the syringe into François-Thomas's neck. The liquid enters the body of François-Thomas, which causes a contraction of his body.

Haytham then turns to Isabella and Yennefer.

"Thank you for making him lose consciousness and sorry for what happened. But as you can see, François was no longer in control.

"Can you explain what just happened?" Even though Isabella's words sound like a question, Haytham knows it's not a question but an order.

"About a month ago, the three of us explored an ancient laboratory. After exploring it, we discovered that it was the residence of a powerful necromancer. This necromancer was still alive to try to turn us into his servants, but we managed to kill him. Then, however, he attempted to possess Francis as the last gift to us. Luckily for us, Francis resisted him long enough that we could kill the necromancer's soul. But, he left a gift for Francis, some of the corrupt magic that amplifies Francis' negative feelings and tries to drive him out of his mind." explains Haytham.

"François then researched the tomes of the necromancer and managed to find a formula that calms the spirit." ends Robert, who has got up and is approaching his friends.

"You know it's no use, right?" Isabella asks, approaching Saibus and Yennefer.

Haytham looks at his friend without answering, while Robert's face shows an expression of resignation.

"Yes, we know this is final, and Francis can never be cleansed, and we will have to end his life," Robert replies sadly.

A silence settles after the words of Robert, who kneels next to François.

"Thank you for holding back your magic and not killing him.

But we're going to have to go." Robert says, putting his arms around François.

'CRAC'

A violent wind emanates from François which repels Robert and Haytham. The gusts of wind turn into a small tornado that destroys the room.

A portal opens that encompasses all the people in the room.